A Kickstarter gone wrong

Perhaps of note is that Kickstarter's model is based off the Street Performer Protocol, originally intended as a solution for getting private funding for free, public goods.

There is a whole Open Software category on Kickstarter, so clearly "free" is not a reason his campaign failed. Quite frankly, it failed because his vision put "simulation" before having an actually engaging game.

I suspect that was the primary cause here, far more than any other factor. Kickstarter is for selling a vision, and a half-reality is the worst version of a vision.