I believe he's saying that in the past, engineers would take a lower salary and work longer hours due to the prestige of working in the industry, or on a specif

I believe he's saying that in the past, engineers would take a lower salary and work longer hours due to the prestige of working in the industry, or on a specific game. If they made those sacrifices and the game never even shipped, it would be disheartening. Though to a contractor, all billable hours are created equal.