I don't know if the plandemic was an excuse, but I tell you something, it sure was a good excuse for everything in life, to stop updating everything, the year the world stood still etc.. True enough businesses went down the toilet, and middleclass people became poor and poor went a bit below poor, and only rich survive now.
During this time Ran could have updated the game, but his new kid came into the world, and people might of stopped paying him cause of the pandemic, might of influenced some of his time. Either way if he's going to use AI, I might not bother with this game.