Where are you getting this?
Nothing in the Uploader rules say the developer has to *request* the On Hold prefix; they only mention that they make a "clear public statement", which this dev has, on his Patreon, dated 15 November.
And the three month rule refers to inactivity on the dev's public accounts (such as Patreon), not time since last update. Since the dev posted on 15 November, this rule doesn't apply yet, either.
Read...
First Hopes didn't posted any shit between 29th of May and 15th of November (or 22th of July for his latest Discord post). According to the rules that get him Abandoned without further discussion. (Sure, exception possible...)
Second, after the Abandoned prefix is given
only a game update can lift it.
Therefore, to avoid the Abandoned prefix on the zone, he would had to do either post something between 22th of July and 22th of November or "request" the on hold prefix.
And even with on hold the game should get an update in less than 6 month and, brutally, the update cycle of the game is going for a cycle of more than 6 month (plain and simple statistic) and the last update needed 9 month. So, he would get the abadonded prefix either way, even if he was given the on hold prefix, as he would needed to post a game update (if it was on on hold prefix) before 22th of February 25. And that would suprise me very much.
