At this point, it's been so long that I don't think it's reasonable to take anything said from the start of EA/pre-EA at face value anymore.
It could be a good idea to reset your expectations for the next patch, considering the near total radio silence of the past three or so months.
I'm more or less of the same opinion.
Not just about companions, either.
There are plenty of features that they teased/described as "work in progress" at the start of this EA (like the alleged UI to have a party-wide contribution to dialogues, etc) and then they were never mentioned a single time again since then.
I'd lie if I said that I have full confidence that they are still part of Larian's plans.
