the funding likely was for plans they disclosed to the shareholders. its still simethinf they shouldnt pursue because its already on its own a very niche usecase.
for example, they didnt outright produce the desktop case themselves, they handed off production of that essentially to coolermaster.
the handheld gaming case is a niche (repairable laptop owners), in a niche (people who are on their second fw13 board), in a niche(is a gamer), in a niche (willing to trade off performance and size due to board size and slower ram speeds). there is very little momey in that and the project makes sense more for the community than the company itself (which some in the community has already started/finished)
over under, silk song releasing compared to prime 4