It's extremely clickbaity.
He wasn't working on it, and was invited to play-test what they had. He said he thought it would take 18 months to finish when they asked him, which is what the person who asked him also thought, and anything longer than 6 months ment it would be cancelled.
It's like when someone asks you if the soup they are making is too salty, you say yes, and they pour it down the drain. You're not the person who threw it away.