I agree. From the looks of it, they're akin to a rich benefactor commissioning a work by a promising young artist that will ultimately end up hanging in a museu

I agree. From the looks of it, they're akin to a rich benefactor commissioning a work by a promising young artist that will ultimately end up hanging in a museum, just to say in their social circles, "I funded a promising young artist that is showing at blahblah..." I mean, they're basically giving the prospective developer all of the profits and guaranteeing them 100% of the IP. They just want to expand the culture of Indie games.