I agree it'd be nice to see a new game in the series, rather than and old one.. But Sierra did always have a sort of business-like demeanor that might lead one to think "we ought to re-introduce everyone to the franchise" -- that seems to be the thinking here, which does seem wrong, considering it's fans that will make this happen.
But... Replay Games does have some strong claim to franchise, being made up of a bunch of Sierra people (regardless of the webgame crap they've made in the interim).. Check out their
about page.
The best I can guess is they ran out of money in making the remake (they posted some comment about venture capital people fleeing after they acquired the LSL rights).. And it's also probably a good idea to run with what ideas they can while the Kickstarter thing is hot. Not the perfect DF-level scenario, but overall a good thing.