For years the pitch was simple: build a game, maybe make a little pocket money. For a growing number of creators, that pitch has quietly become a salary. We spoke to several small teams running their experiences like real studios — splitting revenue, hiring modelers and scripters, and shipping updates on a schedule. None of them set out to start a company. All of them, more or less, did. The economics are still brutal at the top and thin in the middle. But the middle is getting wider, and that's the part worth watching.