"I think people seem to give the impression that he is out but it is not like they have really done anything new yet so who knows in the long run?"

Actually, this was confirmed by one of the admins on Queenonline - John officially retired Queen in 1997. He wrote a letter to B+R saying that he didn't mind them using the Queen name and that he would support any project they would do, but that he didn't feel like being in a rockband anymore etc.