If that's the case then why haven't smart people figured out a way for game developers to make money while releasing their software as open source? Point me to an example that illustrates how this is possible and I will concede that you're right.
Can you provide a link to your games or more info? I'd be curious to see.
I'm still not entirely convinced. In both of your examples it's not clear that it's possible to make a sustainable income, 10k is not imo a sustainable income, admittedly that's partly my fault though for not making my original question clear. I upvoted you for your examples though, since you did technically meet the requirements I asked for.
Directly from the article: "Programmers should give away their software and make money from consulting."
I read that as meaning open source, what do you take that to mean? Maybe my requirement that it be open-source is too restrictive - I'd be just as happy to see an example of a freely available closed source game that earns its creator a decent living.
In regards to 2dboy, while I think it's certainly an interesting economic model, which has a lot of potential, I don't think it's a counter-example of what the article is arguing in-favor of since it's still not free.
2dBoy was more of an example of smart game developers changing with the times and gating paid. And for a while it was free (as in beer) if a customer wanted.
The reason I doubt it means opensource because that's the equivalent to musicians handing over their source files.
Ultimately those who can adapt, will adapt. And they will inspire others.
It isn't an exactly what you're asking but in terms of giving away software and still making money on it with games - there are some people making money with free flash games. If I remember right the desktop tower defense guys made a little under 100k in a year and I read an article not long ago which suggested the ninja kiwi games website was making something near $30k/mo.
Or how about the farmville / zinga games offers where people do certain trial offers to get points in the game?
These seem like reasonable answers to your question (though these aren't open source they are still free to play).
its obviously easier to lobby to prevent the economy from shifting; many big companies will be unable to adapt, and many small companies will become the big companies.
meh, smart people will find a way to make money, even when economies shift.