Humble Bundle is basically a publisher with a web storefront. They leverage other distribution channels, and critically, have what's left of the gaming press as a very fruitful marketing channel.
They also mostly only publish things that are already hits, so in a lot of ways they are a re-user outlet.
Other storefronts... That would be nice if people could make money on those other distribution channels. Unfortunately, they can't, by and large. Most people don't find the effort worth it to even sign up with Amazon, which has a huge addressable market. I have never even seen a sales report with money from fdroid. For devs who are trying to make a living just from games, anything other than Steam, iOS, and for some people, Google Play, is basically irrelevant. Unless you land in a Humble Bundle.
As far as the loyal audience, yes, I agree with you on that, even mentioned it in the article. But that's not a living wage for most, and the latest research says that sort of environment is more susceptible to a hit-driven winner-takes-all market. That leads to an ugly place as regards the income levels for the typical dev.
Isn't this the same problem that music has though? The vast majority of musicians don't make a huge living from creating their own music. You either do it for the joy of it with the hope of possibly being discovered. Struggling artist etc. With the main difference being that software developers skills are also hugely wanted in other markets, which musician skills normally aren't.
On some level, its a question of how you both eat the cookie and have it, right? What independent game developers want is some guarantee of a base income, but also with the option to cash in big if they do make it big.
Maybe there is an opportunity there - I'm not sure if a credits organisation is what you're looking for. But maybe something like a self-organised fund that will buy stakes in individual projects, where the stakes are paid out more in a salary style?
Semi-organised group of indie-game developers that guarantee a (lowish) living income to all in the group in exchange for a relatively large chunk of any large windfalls to support the future. If games are actually sustainable then something like that feels like it could stand a reasonable chance, right? Assuming you get past a critical size and have some name recognition. Could also move into the same benefit areas that unions do.
Essentially something like your own very light-weight union/co-op.
You're misreading the issue. The issue is whether anyone can make money other than the few oligarchs who got in early. Whether anyone can make money unless they are pandering to the lowest common denominator for the sake of mere profitability. Whether even the top quality titles can make money given the need to spend at insane rates in order to be visible.
It's absolutely true you can do it for the love of it. Not questioning that. But the above is a recipe for a crash.
They also mostly only publish things that are already hits, so in a lot of ways they are a re-user outlet.