That's always the risk when working on a translation project for a game you know will be localized officially.
that was bound to happen, sooner or later, and if you had release your patch at end or 2018 like you wanted you probably would have receive a letter anyway to remove it. I think it's maybe better this way, before any of your release, only the official one will be available.
it's too bad for your work, but it's a nice experience in game modding.
maybe you'll find another project, for an old game you know will never be localized.
edit:
I added a note on first post.