Apparently they're on Steam and on the German forums communicating with playtesters and interested people.
The rest of your post is similar to what I feel about the game, now that we've had a few months to process what's here.
I don't like it, I'm not touching it and I'm sticking to my current projects. Long live...low poly modding.
How so has 16T re-established communications with the community?
This new game looks like a huge money grab, buying upgrades and skins for your units with real life money. It seems like they are selling out to a way where they can receive the greatest amount of profit. with that being said we will most likley not see another new title for the emergency series for the next couple years as they will be focused with this new FTP game and the life cycle that goes along with this new title. That makes me ask the question what's next for the series after this new game is released? Will they continue to create FTP games if this new game has a good reception with with the community? or if this game fails will we see a return to what 16T states on their website as a return to the "classic series"?
Is it in the communities best interest to have EM12/13/14 edited to support mods which seems like an unlikely thing they would do now as EM12/13/14 is around 10 years old depending on the version. I think at this point what would be able to unify the community more would be either a full on remaster or complete remake of EM4/911FR. I for one will not be playing this new title once it releases.