You are splitting the thinnest of hairs here. If a cover band says "we got signed to this new label, so we're going to start making original content now", it means they're recording original music. If a video game developer who has been working on remakes says "we're making original content now", it means they're making an original game. Not necessarily a new IP, but an original game nonetheless. What does original content mean to you?
Also, Housemarque is not that much bigger than Bluepoint and they made Returnal. You don't need 250 people to make a good AAA game.
Additional quote from Thrush:
"Our team is a very highly experienced team, the average experience among most people is about 15 years, and all of them come from original development. It's not like we're a bunch of developers that got trained up on making remasters and remakes. We have that original game development mindset in our hearts, and that's what we're now ready, finally ready with the support of Sony to push forward and show what we can do, and show what PlayStation can do,"
They've been making Destiny for as long as they made Halo so it's a toss up at this point.