> Employees said they were offered more stock to stay on based on their position and seniority, from around $5,000 in value for entry-level workers to upward of $50,000 for more senior employees.

Even $50k for a senior employee for years of working hard overtime is a joke compared to any other industry.

I got a $20 starbucks giftcard, once.

I've aware of royalties in some really, really rare cases(think north of 10M sales, in the < 1% of game sales category), but even in that case from what I heard the publisher had a cap on the upper limit per year in the contract.

It's part of the deal where I worked. I think the whole bad framing of game development is a bit one dimensional. It is a dream job in a very tough saturated market, often with perks inside the office, awesome release parties, passionate coworkers etc. You are missing out on the huge paycheck and work-life balance, but you got many other things. Already it is a privilege to have a job working on games. Not forced to work there, not forced to have a fun job for average pay.