> I can't imagine the talented devs at Zynga didn't have common sense.
There are a lot of very smart people who are easily blinded to the truth when confronted with the possibility of vast riches. Making the right decision here was less about talent/intelligence and more about wisdom.
Yes, that's certainly possible. However, I don't think the math worked out in Zynga's favor in this case. And the reason why people joined anyway was because it's emotionally difficult to do that math correctly when your eyes are blinded by dollar signs.
There are a lot of very smart people who are easily blinded to the truth when confronted with the possibility of vast riches. Making the right decision here was less about talent/intelligence and more about wisdom.