I remember from my (very!) brief stint in the games industry that there are certain specialists who make considerably more than that, such as game engine, cutti

I remember from my (very!) brief stint in the games industry that there are certain specialists who make considerably more than that, such as game engine, cutting-edge rendering and 3d audio specialists. But, it sounds like it still pays to be the one selling shovels. The company I worked for paid mid 5 figures a month to Unity for one dedicated engineer to help us with our issues.