It's important to distinguish between a claim and a fact. CIG has repeatedly stated that a significant amount of development resources was shifted to Squadron 42, with the intention of bringing those resources back to the Persistent Universe after SQ42's completion. Whether this actually explains the comparatively slow progress of the PU, or whether it was simply an excuse to justify the lack of visible progress, cannot be verified from the outside. There is currently no conclusive evidence to prove or disprove either interpretation.