It always amazes me how making money can be the furthest thing on people’s minds when they work on some cool innovative new project, to the point where they actively seem to go out of there way to not make any kind of money.
Monument Valley
If the article is supposing he should have some intellectual property rights since he and two colleagues invented the whole thing... I agree! However, employment contracts still stipulate things like any and all intellectual property created by the employee on company equipment is automatically owned by the company. Some contracts are even more restrictive and give companies ownership over everything their employees create while they're under contract.
God forbid your employees have hobbies they might want to monetize. It's a great way to stifle creativity and progress IMHO.
Although, as a professional software developer, I've found that it makes me value my ability to write software more than the software artifacts I create. Kind of like an artist. Only one person can own your painting or sculpture. Your ability to create art is what puts food on the table.
Oregon Trail was created before he took the job at MECC. He essentially donated the code to the company.