Found this from the refunds sub:
https://www.firesprite.com/news/2021/03/cloud-imperium-games-and-firesprite-unveil-development-partnership-for-star-citizen-multiplayer-mode/A contractor has been brought in to work on ToW, presumably as they have a chance of releasing something when at arms length from CR and the development hell of the CIG studios. Interesting when ToW was originally sold to the backers as something that would not cost a lot of money, and would not take a lot of development resource.
This combined arms mode will continue to see iteration and development to help progress Star Citizen’s and Squadron 42’s combat, and future tests will expand beyond the closed Evocati group to eventually include players in the Public Test Universe.
So no mention of dates, but it could be another Ilfonic episode
It shows that they are moving more work away from the incompetent CIG to other companies that have a better chance of delivering. But it also suggests that their expenditure is rising at least in line with their income to do this.