The article seemed fairly naive -- the reason why more developers haven't ditched publishers is the same reason why everyone working at BigCorp doesn't quit their job and do a startup -- I mean, Mark Zuckerberg did a startup, and he's a billionaire!
The reason they don't is a mixture of financial obligations (children, wife, etc), risk management (failure rate is high, career advancement goes out the window at your current job, lots of money invested with no guarantee of return, etc), size of challenge problem (publishers have everything already in place vs you having to do it all yourself), and having the personality for it, among other things.
We can look at examples like Mojang and see huge successes, but it's a self selection process -- we almost always only hear about the successful indie companies, not the ones that tried to get the word out and got nowhere and failed.
Finally, the authors final suggestion of organizing a boycott or a movement seems right in line with "online petitions" and "If this baby gets 1000 likes he will get his cancer treatment". The most effective way to fight Publishers who treat their developers like crap is to vote with your wallet -- a trait that many gamers seem unwilling to do (See: Modern Warfare 2 boycott, Mass Effect 3 boycott, etc).
The reason they don't is a mixture of financial obligations (children, wife, etc), risk management (failure rate is high, career advancement goes out the window at your current job, lots of money invested with no guarantee of return, etc), size of challenge problem (publishers have everything already in place vs you having to do it all yourself), and having the personality for it, among other things.
We can look at examples like Mojang and see huge successes, but it's a self selection process -- we almost always only hear about the successful indie companies, not the ones that tried to get the word out and got nowhere and failed.
Finally, the authors final suggestion of organizing a boycott or a movement seems right in line with "online petitions" and "If this baby gets 1000 likes he will get his cancer treatment". The most effective way to fight Publishers who treat their developers like crap is to vote with your wallet -- a trait that many gamers seem unwilling to do (See: Modern Warfare 2 boycott, Mass Effect 3 boycott, etc).