If they removed it from paying players they'd need to issue money and that's really all they care about.

ET is gone but the Arcade Mission is still playable if you owned the DLC pack. Otherwise it's gone.

Someone's gotta pay for all their alcoholic drinks and food they keep tweeting about

I'll check it later. I think it's bs if they take it away from people that have paid for it.

Can the elusive target arcade mission still be played with him in it though?

I think only Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 is the only exception that was actually any good made by a western developer.

And there's some honourable mentions too like Stellar Blade - Korean Dev,
Silent Hill 2 - Japanese Dev,
Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth - Japanese Dev,
Rise of The Ronin - Japanese Dev,
Dragon's Dogma II - Japanese Dev