This is if he wants to finish the game on version 1.0, but no one is stopping him from finishing it on it. He can simply continue making versions 1.1, 1.2 or 1.5, 1.10, etc. And Fujino himself ignores these questions on ci-en and Patreon. And as for speeding up the plot, I don’t even know, he changed Sinon’s plot, gives a new role to Alice, promotes the relationship between Suguha and Kirito. Lets Liz take the initiative into her own hands, albeit for a short time. All this rather increases the amount of work than speeds it up. If we take Asuna, she still has 8 perks not unlocked, and many are only at level one, and there are those that evolve without showing their level.
And so if we take into account that our updates will last 3 days, there are 18 days left until version 1.0. In theory, of course, Asuna can be turned into a whore during this time, but given that events do not happen every day, much less important ones. And we can easily skip a day, say - "Kirito went to Fog after work, took a quest there, completed it and went to bed." So this is a debatable issue and everything depends on the point of view. Fujino decides in any case, so arguing about when the game ends does not make much sense.
