Rightly or wrongly its about control. The more money you bring to the table (or the more finished product) the less control you have to cede to the corporate funders (publishers). In this case (they have 4 kickstarted games made before) they want to develop around $2million of the game first (with $1million of their own funds already invested) before bringing a publisher on board.
Many kickstarters turn to dust but I have backed several and they all came out ok. The sums are often small and I think it keeps the games industry healthy and dynamic.
I think some developers have said the Kickstarter can also be used for marketing purposes (i.e. figuring out how many really do mean SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY! when they say it).
There's definitely been stinkers in crowdfunding, but some good stuff also has come out of it...like regular publishing, really, just crowdfunding might lead to more esoteric examples, so its existence still strikes me as an improvement.
...but it is quite fair to want nothing to do with it. It will never not be a risk.
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
보드카 중대 
VonManteuffel 
Heartless Jäger 
