For developers I can totally see the appeal ...
If you're looking to generate interesting IPs for the future, and develop the creative leaders of the future, you can take 4 to 8 people and give them the budget to create a game over 6 months ($200,000 to $400,000) and release it to Wiiware in the hopes of breaking even. If the game is successful you can green-light a sequel which will have a slightly larger team (6 to 12 people) and a slightly longer timeline (9 months) and release it to Wiiware in the hopes of breaking even.
After 4 or 5 iterations you're likely going to have a very valueable IP and a moderate to high quality development team; a Company like EA can probably afford to start with 10 teams and (over time) reduce that to 3 or 4 higher quality teams.
