Hmm. Well, when you think about the art vs. money debate in video games, you really have to separate all the branches that help make it possible. As a publisher, it's almost entirely based on profits. They want to maximize their dollar as much as possible. As developers? That is totally different.

Let's think about Super Mario Bros and use it as an example. Do you think Miyamoto was only motivated by profit? Do you think he was motivated by profits at all? If you listen to his interviews then and now, it's clear that all this guy ever cared about was art and how best to convey it in video game form. His boss, on the other hand, Mr. Yamauchi, funded the project with the confidence that it would make a return on his investment. It was all about business and profit for the people who financed the games Miyamoto and his team made. 

So, really, it's not black and white. Even games like COD and Madden have a lot of people working on them that bleed for their work and do it because they just love doing it. There's a lot of cogs in this video game industry and they don't all have the same motives.

Certainly profit is not the only reason that games are made.  But, you seem to have agreed with my point.  Profit is always involved.