I have been a part of projects that died, and I know how investors react when they see no interest from developers and the team and receive no updates and other information about the roadmap and future developments of the project because they know they are going to lose money if the project dies.
I feel you. Investors aim in investing in a project is to make profit and when the coin isn't going hopeful and promising to offer those profits in the future investors would begin think otherwise by withdrawing from the project.
So it'd be the developers fault to had left the system unserviced with the mechanical improvement cordially to respond to investors expectations and failure for developers taking that responsibility becomes an awareness that the coin is going dead.