I can't say much on what is or isn't going on with the dev, but I can say that a developer who wants to just bail after getting the money wouldn't give that excuse and then check back up on the game's post, which Ashen has done, a few times actually. Why come back to the scene of the crime?
I agree that normally the process should be to pause the subscription, but tbh I specifically chose to keep the subscription active during this period of time anyways because one, the game is special imho, two, the dev was very active on discord prior to the issue, three, the situation seemed very genuine, four, he was working on the update before anyways as well. I can't tell you guys to be mad or not, and sure the timing is poor, but imho there is no guarantee for any game to go until completion. Such is life. And it's not like we are paying for the game, we can still play the game for free through here so it seems really more a hobby for the dev, and as such when its no longer enjoyable for them, I think its more than warranted for them to abandon it.
I do also believe if the dev does end up abandoning it, he would let us know. He's been vocal so far and I have come across poor devs plenty of times before, he seems to among the better ones