I don't want to disclose it because I feel like it would just make people angry or angrier at one another if I did. I don't like doing this at all but with how things have gone behind the scenes the only way this will get anywhere is if I do this.
The way you keep phrasing things, with "Behind the scenes" and such sounds like some secret circle stuff, doubly so if you're worried about players getting mad at you.
Allow me to put forward my hypothesis: You, or some friend of yours, got personally angry at how another player was acting (We'll find out who specifically because said players shan't receive invitations to the next game.)
Rather than acting like rational adults and talking over your problems with said players, you opted for the least confrontational route of relaunching the game and quietly excluding said players, in the hopes that they'll get tired of waiting for an invitation and wander off.
You can't give your players the respect of being up front about your feelings or even whether they'll get to come to the secret new game, and that says a lot about you.