the 'point' of a publisher is multifaceted, and ranges from everything from funding to advertising to contract negotiation with platforms and larger marketplaces (getting your game on game pass, getting it to be part of deals and getting your game in front of people at the appropriate times to maximise engagement and entice people to your game)

don't get me wrong, I think if he throws himself behind a project that project is immediately going to get a lot more attention no question, but I just don't see it going beyond that? and given his video essays into game design in the past have been super surface level, i also just don't see him being able to contribute something to the process that gives me confidence that this is going to churn out some great stuff. Happy to be proven wrong, but as someone in this space the fact that he's straight up announcing himself opening this up without anything on the offering plate feels a lot like folks who tweet and make videos saying 'i'm going to build the biggest, best game because I'm a GamerTM and therefore I should know the best things to put in one', of which there are dozens of failed kickstarters to point at for examples - because it's easier to build hype around an idea than it is to actually deliver

Isn’t the entire point of publishing to bring attention to a product

I mean yeah, but which projects will you be bringing attention to? He has enough clout to promote games and at least he's being transparent about him becoming a shill for hire, but if he expects to just trudge through his inbox and find the next indie game darling it's like, lol. Like if that was a viable business model, publishers would all be trudging through the sea of half-baked itch.io projects.