I understand the thinking, but at the same time, for me, it wouldn't make any sense.
Today, he has about half the paying fans he used to have. Among those who remain, many have dropped a few levels of support, so it's safe to say he doesn't make even half of what he once did.
If his focus were solely on making money, I'm sure he would find a way to keep the game up to date, even if it meant sacrificing the quality of the content, because with the occasional loss, he would only increase the number of paying fans, without a doubt. And that's not the case.
IN MY OPINION, he's not a bad or greedy person. What's happening is impostor syndrome. He self-sabotages. Deep down, it's more a matter of being stupid, naive, lacking the ability to organize, plan, etc. And he's also a bit of a stubborn perfectionist, refusing to accept help, discarding some finished parts because he "doesn't think it was good enough," and things like that.
So he gets into a loop. He sets deadlines he can't meet (believing this will give him the impetus to try harder), but when he can't meet them (which was obvious from the start), he blames himself, and this affects his ability to produce (because, again, he lacks maturity; he reacts like a spoiled child; I don't doubt he even cries about it).
And when he misses a deadline, he feels the need to set another date, with even bigger promises, to make up for the previous failure. And so he creates new loops where one failure compromises his ability for the next, and saps his confidence, and saps his motivation... and this keeps repeating itself.
That's what I think.