Apples to oranges, I think. Blue Prince was self-funded and solo developed for much of its long development time. Publisher funding was sought to polish and market the game.

The developers in the article are taking about seeking upfront publisher funding for a small studio to develop the game with a much shorter time horizon. The publisher would likely need to invest much more, but would take a much greater percentage of revenue, and with an established franchise like Myst and a team of veteran devs the risk is - in theory - lower.