That's why customer goodwill is so important. It can save you from doing a major mistake simply by the fans still buying the next game out of support for the studio.
Also, the "if we don't get funded" message rubs me the wrong. It feels like an appeal to emotion rather than an honest message. Something along the lines of "we'll continue looking for funding, though the project will be put on hold" would feel more genuine without tugging on heartstrings.
Let's see how their new game idea works out. Honestly a prophunt horror game seems interesting, but I feel it's pretty much done to death by free mods/gamemodes already.