1. Sci fi and open world? So? Does that make the game automatically good? That's if there was a game at all. The very fact that we haven't seen anything from the game in 4 years should say everything.

2. The battlestar galactica screenwriter only wrote 7 episodes out of 75 compared to Glen A. Larson and Ronald D. Moore who wrote 73 episodes each. There are also 5 other writers who wrote more episodes that that guy.

3. How do you know that it was close to reveal? And 4 years for a reveal with at least 1.5-2 years more in development isn't sustainable.

To me, it's pretty obvious that they couldn't get the game running or the quality just wasn't there. Think about it for a second - of all the projects that they could have cut costs on, they chose the one which, per your account, was great and close to reveal (I'm assuming that you're an insider here)?

He said fuck this shit I make more money making commercials than doing this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e4ON8WLxtI

Guys like Stig Sony can afford, so I don't think it was due to his salary why he left.
What I think happened is Stig studio was not living up to Sony's expections. Sony most likely felt as though they dumped all this capital into Stig studio and when it came to the test Stig had nothing to show.
I could be wrong.
A lot of these developers are just hyped up, give them a budget and their own studio and pretty sure most of them will end up blowing it and expect more. Stig is probably not that great of a Dirctor on his own on brand new IPs, some people are just good at picking up IPs that was passed down to them or that got a start some where else.
Companies don't have an unlimited check book.

Who cares really, why give a fuck at all.

His project failed and hes done, sound to me like a regular day at the office.

Do you want them to come forward and say Stig failed miserably?

Gonna guess that again, you haven't done much of any research on this. Of course nothing will be seen because it wasn't revealed but quite obviously this was a project that has been confirmed to be canned. If anything the fact that this wasn't cancelled before hand should say it was coming along somewhat and the timing of the cancellation says a lot after Ascension greatly underperformed. The fact that the entire team was let go points an obvious sign that this was Sony trying to save up money. If the project wasn't going anywhere which is unlikely as it probably would have been cancelled sooner but if it was, Stig was in charge so it makes no sense to get rid of everyone else unless it was to save money. 

It is painfully obvious and sad that this was just Sony trying to save up some money and being cheap. It's crazy that The Last Guardian is still going when this was cancelled.

Wait...you honestly believe that this was a cost cutting measure? If the game was close to being finished and was promising, do you honestly believe they would choose this team of all places to cut costs? The budget to finish the game couldn't have been more than $10m or so if it was as close to being finished as you think, and Sony's gaming division just turned a $230m profit for the quarter IIRC. If Sony thought the game would've resulted in more revenue than  what would've been spent on it, it would still be in development. Companies don't choose people at random to fire. They get rid of the ones that they think will hinder their ability to turn a profit. There are several other places that Sony could have and would have cut costs before this team if the game was actually in the shape you think it was in.

As evidenced by more recent lay offs, this was a budget cut. Sad. The new lay off news just proves it more.

Apparently the CD over Driveclub left Evolution last month too. A lot of people leaving/being laid off lately.

Seth Killian also left. As I said.... everyday these news.