Capitalism doesn't create permanent monopolies, government does. Capitalism tends to destroy monopolies. Just ask Kodak or AT&T or any other monopoly disrupted by innovative technology.
Anyway, Notch is making tens of millions of dollars on Minecraft, a video game sold directly to consumers.
Yeah, that's a great point about Notch. I think it goes along well with my point that theater-type production and distribution systems are reserved for the big guys. The smaller guys like Notch have their own channels and it has worked out very well for the most successful of them.
It is great that Mincraft is as successful as it is. But trying to say that gaming would exist as is without the backing of big companies as is is a joke. Minecraft caters to a niche market.
I'm pretty sure Notch couldn't have cranked out Skyrim on his own, and WoW wouldn't have been developed by a small group of people as a hobby project on their own time. Large and complex games and systems and the like take lots of money to produce a product people will want to play, and without big backing these type of games wouldn't exist.
Anyway, Notch is making tens of millions of dollars on Minecraft, a video game sold directly to consumers.