Pretty much my take on it too.
I just don't get why they're not upfront about it. They wouldn't be the first ones to have major features patched in.
Except, of course, they don't plan on doing so ever.
Steam refunds.
And yeah either not wanting to put the resources and or not being able to do it. Either way this misguiding communication is made to keep as many sales as possible with the hype train going at full steam. Hope it backfires.
So Sean is a liar. It's a pretty poor show and frankly quite disappointing. I think they realized the servers simply couldn't handle it.
Which is perfectly fine, normal and understandable for a 15-man company. What is not is being shady about it.