I’ve noticed a trend (among TT games and other product categories), of established companies using Kickstarter. Mostly I think they use it as a hype machine/pre-order system, but that doesn’t quite feel like the ethos behind Kickstarter. Full disclosure, I have backed some of these myself!
A few examples (some are on Kickstarter-adjacent sites)
There has of course been bad behaviour and bad faith in a whole bunch of Kickstarters.
On the other hand, RPGs are a marginal business even for most “established” companies, with the exception of Wizards of the Coast. Almost no one gets rich off this business. So while I back stuff only quite infrequently, I’m not mad that companies do it.