Yes, SMTs (Smart Media Tokens, not Steem Media Tokens as many assume it stands for) are still very much on the road map.
The way they were coded though by Steemit Inc had some problems so they need some additional code to make them more viable, but that will be one of the primary focuses after Hard Fork 24 lands.
Bringing SMTs into existence would be a nice feather in Hive’s cap since Steemit Inc couldn’t do it. Having token creation at both layer 1 and layer 2 would give maximum flexibility as well for those that prefer one over the other. Decentralizing Hive-Engine would go a long way as well.