I think this disconnect is a result of some drift from what Kickstarter's early examples envisioned. They had in mind rewards being more like tokens or thank-yo

I think this disconnect is a result of some drift from what Kickstarter's early examples envisioned. They had in mind rewards being more like tokens or thank-yous, taking up a smallish part of the actual funding budget: more like giving tshirts or little hand-made art things to backers to thank them for their support. The kind of thing you get at different membership tiers when you join EFF or another nonprofit. So by the terms, you had to deliver the tshirt regardless, but whether the project succeeded or not was separate and not guaranteed. But now many rewards are essentially preorders for a product, which cannot be delivered unless it's produced, so people are effectively making a binding legal promise up front that the project will succeed (which in many cases they cannot really keep).