Exactly. In today's indie landscape where we have the engine and every software available to smaller developers, you can make a living off of indie projects if you are talented. I could even argue that you can earn more money with a kickass and unique indie game, than in a AAA company.
Depends, on a simple platformer on Steam there are five or more people working on it, while you can certainly do a game alone, that is a huge undertaking specially if you are trying for anything more than absolute primitive and trying to get an stable income. If you have 5 or so people working for an entire year on US wages and costs... boy... that adds up on a year. I won't even mention more complex projects that require even more people.
So, you need capital to keep this going (you are trying to make a living of this not just some hobby) and to get that you need a)to know some investor, b)crowdfunding, c)pay from your own pocket and d)loans, a)if you are a asocial nerd, you will never meet one, b)Requires you have a decent reputation to get enough money but that is something you don't have when you are a newbie or even a veteran that is mostly unknown, c)Are you rich? No? HaHaHaHaHa!, d)Maybe placing a rope around your neck for the next years and trying to avoid falling from the chair is a less stressful experience.
Steam takes a 30% cut, taxes another bite and you are expected to charge less on 50% off or more promotions, all of this with a fierce competition with probably more money than you fighting for any visibility, your game could just die unknown and there is nothing you can do about it as you don't have a marketing budget. While slaving away as some corporate drone is a big failure, living like some broke indie developer isn't something glamurous either, especially if you wanna have a family.
Another problem, if you are a rookie, where are you going to get experience? Your first games are going to be probably complete broken shit and not many people are going to pay for them. No indie team will accept you if you can't carry your load as they don't have many resources to waste time teaching you. If you are a veteran, how are you going to get the other talent required to make a game when you were only used to deal on your area? How are you going to convince them to leave their job and work for you?
It isn't entirely fair to compare the failed Ubisoft nameless drone to a successful indie developer because the chances of you being one are as small as you going anywhere on the AAA industry. If your projects fail hard, you are going to probably work like a slave to someone else for the food anyway, have no decent career AND pay for the expenses you had while trying to make a game and failing. If you work part time on your project, your marriage will go to shit as the time you should be having with your family will be wasted on a gaming project and you could end broke anyway.