We're not afraid of risks. Itch.io is full of innovative games. But most games are extremely hard to find on itch.io - so you may not be aware of them.
I think the biggest problem is that you need a large network. And to get that you either need to be popular in the real world, or have money to promote or boost your posts on social media. In the absence of those two factors, our games languish in obscurity - risks or no risks. Time is also a factor. I much prefer making a game than spending the hours making content to promote the game on social media - so my store is slanted to more games, fewer players. Someone who spent more time marketing would have fewer games, more players.
It's really a very tiny portion of games that get lucky and get noticed by the right people - odds are probably similar to winning a lottery.