FWIW, If you look at the Kickstarter it promotes Avellone, Sawyer and Cain - "Obsidian Entertainment and our legendary game designers Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, and Josh Sawyer are excited to bring you a new role-playing game for the PC. Project Eternity (working title) pays homage to the great Infinity Engine games of years past: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment."
Its pretty clear that Obsidian felt that these three developers had name recognition amid the people who were going to pledge for the game to be made.