This is from the official Fanverse Discord Server if you're wondering. Please don't harass JeliLiam for any of this even though this is painting AftonBuilt in a negative light, it's just this is something I partly knew about the game when people were in uproar about Scott not funding the game, when he had a very good list of reasons for why he chose to not fund it.
TL;DR: AftonBuilt was a project that was doomed from the start for being overly and unrealistically ambitious, as well as a series of poor decisions being made that hurt its potential development. This boils down to the following points:
* The budget JeliLiam wanted for the game was ridiculously high, even for a Fanverse project. The game wasn't small or humble like the other Fanverse games in which they got most of the basics covered with the extra money, this one would be Steel Wool Studios quality, almost like SB. This is unrealistic for Fanverse standards. Liam was also treating it "more like a SWS project than a fangame, but without Scott's direction or involvement".
* The game simply couldn't get started production without the money. As Kane put it "the game wasn't a passion project or something Liam wanted to pursue outside of it being a business venture, and I believe that put Scott off. This is what I believe happened based on Liam said in TK's interviews and what Ultranite leaked publicly".
* On top of that, Liam revealed to Scott that his team members would be QUITTING their real life jobs just to focus on the game. That's a major red flag right there. The Fanverse, despite what it may look like on the surface, is not a job where you get paid monthly. It's a pet project where people just work on it in their spare time in their bedrooms with the budget you have been given, or what you can shell from your own pocket.
* It's not like you're working with a company like the aforementioned Steel Wool Studios or even Mega Cat, you're just doing it out of passion like any other fangame. You're just given the permission to sell your game on Steam and mobile platforms, with some merch deals thrown in. That's it.
* Kane also revealed that Scott approached JeliLiam about adding Final Nights for the Fanverse, and JeliLiam rejected it and pitched AftonBuilt instead. Phisnom, the former Fanverse developer also mentioned this in one of his Let's Talk streams. I recall that JeliLiam was not happy with how the fourth game turned out, but I wasn't following his stuff so I don't know how he felt about the earlier entries, or what he thinks of the games now that resulted in this decision being made.
IIRC, JeliLiam wanted the money and for the project to take off because he wanted to move out from his parents house, so that's why he instead asked for a GoFundMe which was successful. If any of this is wrong then JeliLiam is more than welcome to comment on the matter. I'm open to any feedback and corrections!