According to an e-mail from Phosphor Games CEO Justin Corcoran, the private funding campaign was the company's backup plan should the Kickstarter fail. "We said at the start that we only had until the beginning of May to decide to either put a team on Project Awakened if it was funded, or something else that would provide revenue for the studio."

"We were winding down on the private campaign and not looking close to making it, the decision had to be made to get people working on other stuff that was waiting, and the alternative funding discussions were going to need a long time to see through. So, with all that combined, we decided to close down the campaign and get everyone back their money."

On the upside, Corcoran said that the game now has thousands of supporters and possible investors willing to fund development. The team also received feedback concerning additions to the action game.