Sure most publishers suck but indie devs also have to be honest with themselves and their ability to market. Like even writing out their Steam page and selecting screenshots. Video games and music have the lowest barriers for widely popular monetized distribution but marketing/localization/testing/etc are all valuable professions that a publisher could provide better service than what an indie can manage on their own. Especially when they’re new devs.

Indie filmmakers pretty much always sign up with publishers/distributors around the world. Established ones can manage multiple publisher deals before their movies are in full production for funding the creation. Do what you can. If you can successfully self distribute, do so. I’d bet most would do better retaining ownership of their creation but still licensing their work to a publisher for distribution/whatever else they offer. Just got to find a good publisher if you go that route