I live in Mexico, I've never seen anyone in Mexico make minimum wage, ever. And I do know people from all walks of life.
As to what they earn, again, I live in Mexico, I am employed by a Mexican company, and work for Mexican clients. I make their yearly salary in 15 days or so. It really is disgusting that they would treat employees this way, specially when they were such a big success.
The minimum wage in Mexico is only used as a unit to pay fines, no one earns that, you simply can't live with that kind of money. Even $200 per month is low for a engineer. A Junior Engineer's salary is around $500-$1k per month.
~13% of the fraction of the country that is formally employed earns minimum wage[1]... just not usually people in any sort of specialized profession working in cities.
13% are reported earning minimum wage. This is a known way for employers to avoid paying more taxes, seguro social, etc. Then they get all other part of their salary marked as 'bonus'
I don't see any reason to think that there aren't a number of laborers being paid the minimum wage in Mexico, or else why would anyone go to the trouble and risk of illegally crossing the US border to take sub-minimum wage work?
The very large population earning $30-$50 a week work for companies or individuals who will never report that salary in order to avoid paying taxes on it. This means any statistics related to this issue are going to be hard to trust namely, the situation looks better than it is and thus why so many desperately want to cross the border. It's not like Mexican companies don't make money, they make tons of it. They just don't share or invest it.
Oh there are. But we can not say if all the 13% reported earn minimum wage or not. I'm not saying there isn't. There just isn't 13% that's for sure. Even if it is at 12.9% we just really can't know.
Sure, but then you are also missing all the people who make below minimum wage because they are not formally employed. Which is a large number of people in Mexico. For example, the salaries of domestic workers are hardly ever reported (the average is around 2 minimum wages, but it is unclear what the lower bound is and is not like they work only 40 hours in practice, see: [1]), and the earnings of street food vendors probably vary a lot (it might often be above minimum, but in plenty of cases it could also be below).
But by the same token, people are going to drift in and out of minimum-wage work, either through unemployment or better employment. It's not like it's the same fixed 13% of the population we're talking about. So it could well be a greater proportion of workers who at one point or another have worked for minimum wage.
Moreover, they know they were directly working on a game that made at least (1.5M * 39.99) ~60 million USD. I admire dedication to one's work and love of the game and all, but that's just not rational.
It doesn't change your broader point, but I suspect that could be a significant over-estimate. Steam take ~30%, and many copies was have been sold at a discount price (I paid ~$15) due to the frequency of Steam sales.
In open source you keep the rights. Which for this game probably means millions. They did not get the rights or Rúe money. It just baffles me to no end.
It's entirely likely they didn't know that - apparently none of the people working on it were told how much it sold and the company tried to stop outsiders estimating its sales figures through services like SteamSpy.
As to what they earn, again, I live in Mexico, I am employed by a Mexican company, and work for Mexican clients. I make their yearly salary in 15 days or so. It really is disgusting that they would treat employees this way, specially when they were such a big success.