I’m guessing worse: they’ve had years to refine this game. To see an example of what a game without that refinement period looks like, just see any early Paradox release.
They can be satisfied that they didn’t start charging until they had a refined product.
Also, they could focus entirely on their own vision for the project instead of being totally reliant on delivering for the marketplace.
They had "slack" (in the slack/moloch sense) to try out weird ideas that may not have been possible if they were relying on sales revenue instead of donations to stay afloat.
They can be satisfied that they didn’t start charging until they had a refined product.