This makes sense to me. I don't get why it matters if your immediate colleagues care about your publishing. If your publishing with people at other places, you can chat about research all you want with them.
Yes, it is helpful to have broader supportive networks. But, it is also nice to have people that you see every day who can talk about research, support you through difficulties, etc. Instead of figuring out time to schedule chat with colleague x in country/time zone y, it's nice to be able to discuss a wide range of research-related issues with people in the offices next to mine.
Plus, when you have immediate colleagues who care about publishing you can enjoy the benefits of engaged speaker series, workshop your own papers, etc.