I think there were two at some point. One was Dmania for sure. I think when they lost their delegation the project went down. It's something we have seen more than once. Projects will need to have a second revenue stream to make it.
I think I could have used those channels indeed. But I want to use Steem. And with communities, I will all the time.
I was really sad to see something similar happen with Musing.io. If they had managed their delegation better they really could have amounted to something I think. I understand your desire to use Steem and I think it is cool how communities will help that. You should check out my latest post, all about retro gaming!