These are great questions. I'm of half a mind Paramount has been shopping around IPs but they also were also in hot water a decade ago for reneging on rights deals so I would think games studios wouldn't want to work with them. Idk, on the other hand saying piss off to them is leaving a lot of money on the table.

I could also see this being borne out of the success of the Stellaris mod somehow, and won't be surprised if New Horizons gets a cease and desist or whatever after Infinite releases.