Homeworld has finally left the barren wasteland that was once Planet THQ and taken a hyperspace jump into the unknown. Wherever its destination, one place it won't be stopping is Save Homeworld - Team Pixel's crowdsourced campaign to secure the license, and in turn a direct sequel. The $70,000+ raised through Kickstarter and IndieGoGo will now be refunded to the campaign's many backers.

"The auction for the Homeworld license ended April 15, 2013," write Team Pixel in a Kickstarter update , "and while we reached qualified bidder status for the bankruptcy auction, we were unable to raise the necessary funds to remain competitive against the other parties at the auction."

While it's not yet been revealed who has secured the rights to the series, an announcement is expected within the next couple of weeks, with the sale due to be finalised mid-May. Hopefully it'll be someone with plans to revisit the series, and not some bitter collector who'll hide it away in a dusty vault, laughing at the sadness of space RTS fans.

Save Homeworld backers can track the progress of their refund on the campaign's website . Team Pixel say they're now planning to start work on a "Homeworld-inspired" RTS using their own original intellectual property.

Thanks, Games.on.Net .

Update: Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester says that two other studios beat out Paradox's bid for the license:

— Fredrik Wester (@TheWesterFront) April 19, 2013 April 19, 2013

And Stardock Founder and CEO Brad Wardell says that his Michigan-based studio, Stardock, had the second-place bid.