Look, I haven't really been following the game all that much since I lost interest in it quite a ways back, so generally my understanding of the game's general state of health is based almost entirely on hearsay. I have at times skimmed through comments on some updates over the last couple years or so, played a mod of it a few times here and there, so I may have the wrong idea since there seems to be conflicting attitudes from others I've had conversations with about it.
But I think that misses the point, or at least mine (which admittedly I didn't really make clear). Loosing the companion system, while unfortunate, isn't really the reason that news struck me the way it did. A lot of the complaints I've heard is of Innoxia's hilariously consistent delays, coupled with the sheer volume of bland yet bug-riddled content, and now content is being axed, all the while without hiring help which has been suggested since as far back as when I last played in fact. If any of that is true, then I kind of feel like this is not really great news. Maybe I'm wrong, but we'll see I guess. Not hating on the dev or anything, but if they haven't reach out yet for help at all and still haven't been able to hit a target release date even once, then I'd at least be a little concerned. Short-term, removing the companion system might be a smart move, it's just that that's hardly the biggest or most long-term of critiques that seem to be routinely brought up. Games like this being done solo like that are a real sketchy shot in the dark anyways. Not being able or willing to recognize the need to tackle something this big in bigger numbers than one is one of the reasons some seem to be less than confident in LT's future.
Again, a lot of this is based on pretty much little better than mere he-said-she-said and that rarely is that the whole story. Hell, there's certainly no shortage of shining examples of that truth in today's world. Just thought I'd toss in my side of it, how shaky it probably is. Two cents and all that.