Their seems to be a misconception that John retired after Freddies death. However he worked on made in heaven and also recorded Only the Good Die Young.
Around that time Both Brian and Roger said in interviews that they could see the three of them collaborating in the future.
Soon after that Recording and possible live dates with Robbie Williams were talked about, at that point John made it clear he didn't want any part of it. They fell out like many bands do, and while he has let them carry on using the Queen name, he is still a director of Queen productions, he no longer talks to them. Brian and John choose their words carefully when talking about Mr Deacon, and he doesn't talk about them.
His retirement was not directly linked to Freddie.
i dont know if they choose their words (bout deacon) so carefully... i can see some strange shadow on bri or roger face when they talk about deacon...
I prefer think that John finnaly has the peace he wanted, and is relatively happy with his retirement drinking my beer, and play bass in his free time with his --millons of-- sons...
A person doesn`t need to be dead to get some peace...