you are right ikarop, that is exactly the jist happened...
but things that wont be public is Time Gate changed many systems (including ai and pathfinding), textures, meshes, and particles, so that when GBX got the game back from Time Gate after more or less a year, it was a big mess to try and salvage enough to finish the game and make it something worth playing.
and no its not uncommon for material to be handed off to a outsourcing company, but to outsource the entire game just because you needed to finish work on BL2 seems counter productive to me... Should have just shelved it until they were ready to go back to it.
nothing worse than having a project go through multiple hands and phases were the direction can often shift dramatically from the original goal...
however, moreso than all this Time Gate stuff, I think one thing that this game is hindered by is the atrocious story and dialogue... I don't remember when it was that aliens franchise was ever "bro fisting" dialogue... The dialogue should add to the game not detract in every instance .. I don't need to hear the CM's say "Oorah to Ashes" every other cut scene...
it all makes a little clearer why it took so long up until recently to get a proper "story" trailer... most of what has been demoed and shown most often was the multiplayer...
i'm a rare breed but I don't play games for the sole purpose of multiplayer... I would rather have a strong single player campaign over any form of multiplayer any day of the week, but thats just me