I think it's more accurate to say that breakthroughs come from periods of intense work & study interspersed with relaxation. If you're only relaxed, you're basically a slacker, one of those dudes who never gets off the couch. But if you're only working, you're just a grind. It's when you put them together - learning everything you can about a topic, or working like crazy to put something together, and then relaxing and letting your brain process it all - that you get creativity.

FWIW, the "West Coast work environment" isn't all ping pong and video games either. It's ping pong and video games interspersed with very hard, intense sprints where products get built.