Well he is preparing the game for EA and that means he wants to avoid player backlash when the game goes public. The best way to do this is to listen to players.Hype. That and indie devs can cultivate an almost parasocial relationship with fans.
It doesn't mean he will be as responsive when the EA gets underway and probably doesn't need to be as long as his vision of the final state of the game is solid and achievable.
Some players will be inevitably disappointed when the game is in their hands as they have projected and assumed too much, but hopefully he won't resort to misleading hype (like some people!) as there's a price to pay down the line.