It's not like you're getting pledgers from the platform directly. You get them from everywhere else.
The actual statistics disagree with you.
What statistics? Or more importantly, who created those statistics? I'm sorry, but trusting in statistics seems very naive to me. If you want to prove some argument with a statistic, you will be able to interpret the results in any way you like. Only very rarely are statistics really "bullet proof". Read further and you might understand why.
All you have to do is look at the amounts generated via KS vs Indiegogo.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/30/kickstarter-owns-indiegogo-with-around-6x-more-total-dollars-raised-average-success-rate-much-higher/
Indiegogo campaigns were found to have raised far fewer successful dollars than Indiegogo, with around $98 million total all-time, while Kickstarter had about six times that, or $612 million. Kickstarter has had 40 projects cross the $1 million threshold, with only 3 doing the same on Indiegogo, and Kickstarter’s average success rate is 44 percent, while Indiegogo’s is around 34 percent (which doesn’t take into account the many delisted projects that failed to raise at least $500. Including those delisted efforts, the previously reported 9.3 percent success rate on 142,301 total campaigns matches up nicely.
Kickstarter has more campaigns posted and has more users. Of course it has a much higher sum of $ raised. No doubt about it. But you fail to see that this does in no way guarantee anything. More people posting on a platform for funding does not mean that each project has a higher chance of being funded. That article is throwing numbers around as if they had any meaning, but the only meaning is that people are impressed by big numbers.
You are also bringing in the "high budget" titles as reference (or the article is). As I said, IndieGogo is not really suited for large projects (that Ubuntu Edge thing being on IndieGogo was really strange, yet they still raised 12M!). But it is much better for smaller scale campaigns as the entry barrier is so much lower. You do not need to waste months of time just for getting your campaign set up on the platform.
This is also the reason for the 44% vs 34% success rate. On IndieGogo, you will find far more bullshit campaigns than on Kickstarter. Seriously. Far more.
Take out all of that crap and I think you will see the same success rate. I'm curious what numbers they have about projects that failed because they were just screwed up campaigns to begin with (bad communication, silly pledge levels, unrealistic target, etc.). Oh, they probably do not have number about that. Too bad. Guess we'll have to think ourselfs and apply some logic instead of trusting random statistics.
But you are right, it is doable, but far from easy. Especially for really small teams. Shadowrun Online did it, but they are a rather large team in comparison. I find IndieGogo to be a far better platform for smaller teams/goals.
From memory:
Sui Generis - a couple of UK guys
Legends of Eisenwald - a small Belarus company
Conquistadors - small Denmark company
Divinity - a Belgian developer
Some Russian company that was making a space sim that we all laughed at.
And I'm sure that all of these would also have made it/reached the same amount of money if they were on IndieGogo. I know that Divinity and Conquistators had some really good communication going on. That's what makes a campaign successful. And I'm not only talking about regular updates.
Uhm... IndieGogo is just as hassle-free. I can do what you describe there as well. Not sure what you try to claim here.
Once you make an account. My point is that the US gaming market is the biggest and people who have one account have it on KS. For them it's much easier to throw twenty bucks at a new project on KS (takes no effort) than open a new account, which requires personal investment into the project.
Do you really think that anyone who is already registered at dozens of websites (I think almost everyone is, at least everyone interested in gaming) is too lazy to register at another one? I seriously doubt it.
Also, funding campaigns are all about personal investment. If someone wants to pledge, it is because he likes the idea/project. And if someone wants to part with his money (something which really does need a motivation), I'm sure that person has a high enough motivation to fill out a registration form. I cannot imagine someone thinking "I really want to give those guys 20$, but registering at the platform they choose for funding? NO WAI!!!". And I'm the one with a negative opinion of... other people.