I mean it is an investment, but normally it can be worth it if you're keeping an eye on the right things. If it goes well you get a game that you paid for less money and get to enjoy it. Sometimes game gives you the backer all the DLCs for free too.
Well pretty sure ANY game takes years to make. But big corpo dont need early outside funding so they often announce games far in the production phase so the Hype train can get the engine warm but not so early game gonna be old news once it comes out.
