And a single person just cannot turn out something close to a AAA title.
I have friends who've launched XBLA games on much, much less working full time out of a basement. During development, they could barely pay rent. Afterwards, they buy new houses.
I feel like people don't take real risks any more, and seem to misunderstand what actual ownership of the outcome looks like.
Sign of the times?
And the issue of AAA ... well... Get a simple game or playable demo going and build off of that rather than shooting for the stars. Or did we lose site of what an MVP is, too? Sounds like the OP did.
I feel like a lot of people underestimate the work/cost involved in physical rewards. I remember reading a game devs blog post about the subject.
Overwhelmed by rewards seems to be a common failure on KS. The list he rattles off in this case is quite extensive, and the postage cost is all that's preventing it from being sent. I wouldn't be surprised if they have 10k into rewards alone, especially when you account the time spent developing them.