I was under the impression that the long development times was due to the technology they had (e.g. Crystal Tools) and how their development pipeline was integrated (extremely inefficiently). Also, most probably lately, the failure of FFXIV would have set their budgets for other projects back quite a bit, especially when dragging senior talent from other projects to FFXIV in order to rebuild the game from the ground up.

With their new engine, it's not just about the visual capabilities, it's also about the development pipeline which by the sounds and looks of it is incredibly efficient (e.g. direct Maya implementation) especially compared to the horror that is Crystal Tools. This will have a major impact on the time it takes during production stage.

I'm going to assume that once FFXIV: ARR's initial development cycle wraps up, they'll be able to dedicate their resources to other projects under the company. At least, that's what I hope.