It might be because they had nothing to show for it
It’s easy to see that the most successful Kickstarters usually have a well laid out plan, including assets, designs, and loads of stretch goals to show that they are dedicated to the project. But not the James Pond Kickstarter.
They kind of just said “hey we’re making a new game,” and left it at that. Thankfully, they’re fully admitting that in their recent Kickstarter update that canceled the project 12 days early, and seem to be learning from their mistakes, promising “Pond will be back” at some point or another.
So if you’re going to launch a Kickstarter, keep in mind that the more you show, the better — otherwise people won’t feel inclined to chip in. Or in this case, it could have failed because people still feel burned by the horrid iOS game.
James Pond [Kickstarter]