Well, he just said it in nicer terms - if the game won´t produce millions of money (insert your favorite currency here), producers won´t back it.
And that WAS the problem - middle sized projects didn´t had a chance. Wasteland 2 was a utopistic dream, ( I suppose you saw a Kickstarter Pitching video - "such a niche middle-sized dedicated fanbase - who would like to make game for them?"), until TIm Schafer didn´t prove them wrong with his Kickstarter - that Adventure fans are still here and they want something, which they (producers) considered disadvantageous business.

I, personally, am thankful for Kickstarter revolution, because it shifts powers (Thanks to Brian Fargo´s Kicking it forward attempt) back into the hands of developers - and market (end-user guys). And even Fargo said in one interview that there surely will be some failed products (Game getting funded by Kickstarter, then, along the way, money runs out in 60-70 percent of completness of the product with no way to finish it.) - that´s why he still have some spare money, just for sure.

So, yeah, it´s not salvation for everyone, but it still varies the market.

Although the kickstarter thing is a good idea, Anachronox 2 has the problem that it will be almost intrinsically expensive. Especially taking the small fan-base into account.

I'd love to see Tom doing kickstarter projects. He has a good track record, maybe he should start with a smaller project...

I saw this argument in so many places, are those people serious or just trolls? Why use Unreal Engine 2 for anything this day and age? I mean, it doesn't make sense in any way.
Like the fact that they are using a newer, better engine has anything to do with the money needed. They can use a real engine, and spend less money on bells and whistles than on important things, like design and writing. Using an older engine version makes absolutely no sense in any way.

Well,we already saw Tom´s kickstarter project[Shaker] fail miserably a few weeks ago,and even though a KS for Anachronox 2 would garner a lot more interest I´m sure,I believe that the Tom Hall name is simply not very well known/relevant in the gaming industry these days,wich wouldn´t help a KS for A2 all that much in my opinion.

This is all fairly moot though,I really doubt Tom will get the license to develop A2 and the chances of SE giving it to anyone else to do something with it are extremely slim at best,it just isn´t a name that most gamers know or are familar with,regardless of it´s amazing quality.

Just my two cents.

Yes,they ended up cancelling it but to be honest,they only did so because it was pretty clear that it wasn´t going to make it.

Wich in a way it´s understandable,I mean,like you very well said,the pitch was really vague and basically just praying on the "old school is better than what we have now" kind of mentality,wich in a way it´s not exactly innacurate but the of actual game specific features was almost non existant wich ended up being harmful to them,but I agree and also hope they come back with an improved(and hopefully more realistic) pitch,I backed it the way it was and I would do so again.