Considering that a lot of the game programmers, 3d artists etc can earn twice as much as they do at present working on things other than games, there must be some other factor holding them to it. A good programmer for console games has a far easier time stepping into a role in the high performance computing fields for example than a programmer whom has only touched X86. An animator and a 3d modeler could step into a role in the movie industry where theres increasing use of computer animation and 3d effects (the glasses).
Now im not talking about the whole of the games industry staff, im talking mostly about the leads in their respective fields. These are the people who really do define whether a studio is good or bad just by their presence and the decisions they make. These are people who aren't really in it for the money because they could make more in other industries, its the love which keeps them where they are. Take away that love and they may as well follow the money to another job somewhere else.
Tease.
