I consider this a new business model for a very select few established developers. However, I think Kickstarter can be used to gauge interest in a product, before you invest resources in developing it only to lose money in the end. This is very important, and I am sure that it will work as a great reality check for many naïve people who "just want to make videogames". It is much easier to revise why your project campaign was unappealing rather than coming to the conclusion at the end of a one- or two-year development cycle.

With Steam available and guys like Valve who go above and beyond to help their developers by doing things like handing out 50k keys to them upon request, developers have the best distribution platform imaginable, which means that the logistics are no longer something to worry about.

It's a great time to be an independent developer.