Just from a game consumer point of view, as opposed to a marketer (although, for the record, partly due to my childhood being largely devoid of regular advertising on cable/etc., I am, for better or worse, hard to market to):

An article like this is interesting to me, as a developer. I don't make games, although I have in the past, but I currently make software for a large company, occasionally feel less-than-enthused by it (Honestly, most of the time I'm fine/good/great and interested in my work, but sometimes I'm not), and seeing the numbers for people who don't work for a fortune 500 the way I do is interesting and valuable information. I'd gladly upvote it on this website, or Reddit if I ever read tech articles over there. If, in the future, I see this game on Steam, I'd click on the page, maybe read the reviews--that might lead to a sale.

The thing is, the article says nothing about the actual game. Nothing about this article (or other earnings related articles) is likely to make me go purchase the game, because there's nothing about the actual game in it, I've never heard of the game prior to this (it isn't something I already want), it isn't in a humble bundle with something I have heard of (it isn't associated with something I want), and I'm not presently reading or hearing positive reviews of the game from people I trust (I don't have a reason to start wanting it).

There's no reason this article (or those like it) would lead to a game sale from me. There's no reason for me to go immediately ignore all my better instincts and go purchase the game without reading the reviews--or even go and read the reviews. Actually, if anything, releasing successful sales figures makes me less intrinsically likely to go buy the game immediately after reading (as opposed to in the vague future), because it seems like the writer is doing well enough for him/her-self, and it isn't some genre or style or content that I think /really should definitely be rewarded/. (Even if it was--successful sales figures literally are the opposite of a call to action for me.)

I'd imagine the benefits of an article like this are much more long term. If, in the future, I'm searching through Steam for a new game, and I come across this game--I'm now much more likely to click through and read the reviews, and if they were largely positive and it was a genre I liked, consider buying. But it doesn't surprise me that you don't associate articles like this with a sales spike. They are literally the last thing that's likely to go get me to buy a game Right Now.

If your marketer is claiming that general good graces and articles are always good--publicity is pretty much always good. Indifference is likely to kill you, but I'll even go click through to the steam reviews on games I think are definitely bad, if only to read the reviews. I've even ended up purchasing a game I had thought was terrible because the reviews on Steam prompted me to read reviews elsewhere and I became convinced I was wrong. No matter how good (or bad) a game is, indifference is more likely to kill it with me than hatred. I think that's the main value of general marketers in the long term--they get the word out, if nothing else. (Good marketers would presumably lead me to want to buy, but I'm operating under the assumption that they're rare.)