There's a term I've heard for Free to Play games, where the people who spend hundreds and thousands on boosts/skins/cosmetic vanity items etc. are called Whales. A few rich people basically pay for the game so that everyone else doesn't have to, they're not always power players, they may not even play regularly but it's more they get status and acclaim from being able to throw their money around at silly things.

If you think about it, this isn't limited to just F2P games; you'll find it in all industries where the early adopters will pay significantly more than people who will buy it (or a derivative version) later, probably on sale. Examples that come to mind: games consoles, sports cars, CPUs, solar panels, rockets, 3d printers...

The benefit of using something like Kickstarter is you can be an early adopter, and if there's not enough interest in the product you don't get charged. The fact that you're not actually spending the money at the point of pledging makes it a lower mental barrier to do so; it's not you paying, it's you in 3 months time.