Its not false the company doesnt actually know when they are releasing a game, a rough estimate is not the same as knowing when a game is released and they dont even share that information so the community is not expecting anything because they dont know when a game is coming usually within the last year of development.
Even if the game is almost ready to release anything can happen to delay the game even add years onto a project, new world has added around 1 year onto its development already because the game is not ready, it takes as long as it takes to make a game ready as its up to the company.
The alpha is a game in its own right currently, if they wanted they could easily polish up and add a few more things to what they already have and that would still be more of a game than many games currently out. There is plenty gameplay loops currently available already in star citizen.
The community wanted a bigger game and thats what we are getting, if you looked at the stretch goals you knew the game would more than double in size and that takes longer to develop.