Didn't they just have a major shakeup in the board or something really soon after they announced APF?
I tend to agree with your line of thinking, it could very well be they have no budget. Someone could have stepped in and said, "well you spent X years on this product lets get it out and our projections are you will sell XX copies so you have XX to advertise and market."
Their primary goal is to make a profit on this game. At least I hope it is or else they are more screwed up then I think is possible.