I think a key difference here is that a greater awareness of market-rate salaries preemptively affect those "want to work on video games" decisions much more th

I think a key difference here is that a greater awareness of market-rate salaries preemptively affect those "want to work on video games" decisions much more than working for a volunteer organization. Corporate organizations in general put a lot of effort and culture into suppressing open knowledge and comparisons of pay rates.