[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727180/NeverAwake/
[2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1372210/Dap/
[3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1400910/Soundodger_2/
[4] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084220/Cavity_Busters/
Failures are games with 50 or less reviews or a bit more if they have much lower price points, there aren't many gems at that level. Note that a large majority of indie game developers don't live in USA, indie gaming isn't dominated by American developers unlike the regular software industry.
The game is multiplayer which is a whole other layer of complexity.
Based on my experience in this market, I really doubt the author is happy with the outcome as anything other than a stepping stone to something more sustainable.
I think you're an order of magnitude too low setting the bar at 50 for professional developers where this is their full time job - even outside of the US.
Such as? Just name one so we can all know. This is your time to help them out no matter how little and there are "a lot" apparently so it shouldn't be hard.