The win took a lot of thought, a lot of communication and some fairly fast and furious in-game action

Llllleeeeeerrrrrooooooyyyyyy Jeeennkins
At least I got chicken!

Try either X2: The Threat or X3: Reunion.

So we're looking at maybe $5 or so of my money actually making it back to the folks who genuinely worked on producing my video game.

This was still the case back in 1998. PC Gamer wrote an article about where the money goes from each game sale. Most went to the publishers, then the government (VAT - Value Added Tax for you non UKers out there) took a slice. The poor developers, the glue of the game, got bugger all.

You can't very well turn out a modern video game in your garage. I get it.

Yes you can! You just need time and patience. If your coding is good, everything else will follow. Also OSS like Blender and GIMP help greatly, unlike 10 yrs ago when you needed the cash to get these apps.

If garage gamers didn't exist anymore you wouldn't get titles like Darwinia by Introversion Software. True, these guys are a lot fewer nowadays, but it is my belief that true innovative and fun games will still come from the bedroom/indie/homebrew gamers. You'll just have to look around to find them! :)

Why don't we just reboot the games companies, like EA and Activision? (but leave Blizzard alone, they are fine just as they are)

Not until I write an EltonJohn worm that sings Circle of Life...no wait, an even better idea for a singing worm:

RickAstley!