Look, these studios/developers had the choice between retaining the copyrights themselves (thereby securing royalties for the life of sales of that particular product) leaving distribution and sales up to themselves, or selling the copyrights to a distributor for a fist full of cash...guess which option they chose! (protip: its the latter!)
Almost every developer I know who works for a large studio is paid by the hour for the work they do, not paid in stock, promises of shares of future royalties or in magic beans!
I'm not sure I want to live in a world where people help make one single (semi-popular) product and expect to live off it for the rest of their lives...
You might not like this story then. Guy who writes textbook that students continue to pay big bucks for has built a $30m house from the proceeds: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/933017--the-house-that-m... .. Gotta admit, I wouldn't mind being in his position :-)
> I'm not sure I want to live in a world where people help make one single (semi-popular) product and expect to live off it for the rest of their lives...
But you feel good living in a world where people who don't help make products expect to live off it for the rest of their lives, right?
I'm not saying people shouldn't be rewarded for creating/producing/developing, but anyone spending 40 hours a week for a year (or so) of your life on ONE product should not expect millions in their bank (or at least to receive royalties off it FOREVER!).
Almost every developer I know who works for a large studio is paid by the hour for the work they do, not paid in stock, promises of shares of future royalties or in magic beans!
I'm not sure I want to live in a world where people help make one single (semi-popular) product and expect to live off it for the rest of their lives...