This is no hoax. I believe the lack of a finished final product can be easily explained by: 1) it's friggen hard work, and 2) I'm inclined to believe there's a little perfectionism involved here, and "release early, release often" is kindof an anathema to perfectionists. Why release an unfinished product when you only need to wait maybe three more years and get a perfect one?
You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.