I.. Im so torn on this. I like the similarities to EVE, which is a great game, but I don't see how an infinite universe, however awesome, helps anything. In order to utilize that infinite universe you better have a million dedicated users. I just don't think it'll be able to take off. They want a massive and intricate community to just happen.
It's been discussed to death in the infinity forums, the 400ish billion stars planned is for all purposes infinite, which makes a ton of people go "wait, how will I ever find and interact with other players in such a huge galaxy". The answer is that players, their crews, and colonies will be somewhat dependent on the pre-established cores. Cities will require immigrants and trade to prosper, and nobody is going to trade with you if you are too far, there's a certain point where it would just become uneconomical. There's a few other mechanics being tossed around like crew morale and different fuel types that would do even more towards the same end as well. So, the solution thats being used for this problem is basically making the players dependent on already colonized space and therefore concentrating the player-base in a small part of that practically infinite galaxy.
Anyway, the engine infinity is in on (i-novae) is going into beta this summer and they are hoping to license it for funding that they then plan to use to make the infinity MMO with, so things seem to be progressing nicely for now.