My problem is even if he does come back, so to speak, he's got no credit in the bank with the fans so who's going to support him. Which then means it's not exactly worth his time to come back at all.
There's a more than likely chance it becomes a death spiral where he releases an update, goes missing for a year, then releases another one and so on and so on.
Going back and doing the monthly renders for his supporters would probably help. Relatively low effort but with greater returns as it shows he's engaging again. Has he been doing them again?