I'm not sure where you're getting that from. If you look at the top winner of the popular vote, they have one game on itch.io (the contest game) and no paid games, they don't link to any kickstarters, and they posted in their thread how much leg work they did to boost their ratings and get more exposure.
Besides, even if someone did have a preexisting following, why wouldn't Degica want someone like that under their publishing name. That following is going to bring in sales. Again though - looking at the winner of the popular vote, that wasn't the case this year.