Re:Everyone knows publishers are scum... (Score 1)

In addition to that, even if a developer could manage to scrape together the funding for a game, the chances of them recovering those costs via online distribution are very, very small. Most people don't buy games online, they buy them through retail stores, and there's no way you're going to get into a retail store without going through a publisher. And, as has been mentioned, this wouldn't work for console games, which make up the overwhelming majority of the game market.

To be clear, what I just said applies to almost all studios doing AAA game development. There are a handful of studios that have the funds/leverage to make it without a publisher. There are also small teams working on simpler games that can survive on online sales. But those are the exceptional cases.