Why is many worlds far fetched? We observe it in a smaller scale in experiments when you pass light through a half silvered mirror. It's just the logical extrapolation of that observation to the macro scale.
You're right that postulates such as the projection postulate complicate the theory. But it's not clear how to explain experimental results, like the stochastic nature of measurements or the Born rule, without it. I can make a theory as simple as you like if you don't require it to explain experimental results.