We don't know anything about the situation back then.There could've been many problems, for example the most of publishing companies, are expecting some Elves, boobies,standrard Fantasy ****world with manga stylized graphics, as a big attidue and on Xbox 360 of course, not Dark Post Apocalyptic Hard Core RPG on PC.
I hate EA they bought some great franchises (Ultima, Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Syndicate) just to screw them up, or ignore.
Ea is the biggest Bad Guy in computer gaming market, it has the style of Sauron from LOTR or Crimsong King from The Dark Tower, screw things just to screw them(cancelling Dungeon Keeper 3 after the big succes of DK2, and firing almost whole team of Bullfrog? So Why the (Big)F they've bought this company?)