You are forgetting that his wife would also have a job. He doesn't need to provide for the entire family.
And in no way 200k/year is 'decent' - it's
awesome. The average annual income of an American worker is
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, while in Spain is
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(almost a third of an American one).
According to Graphtreon, Cari makes an average of 29k/month (estimate). 20% VAT = 23.2k. 8-ish% Patreon (thanks
doovel ) =~ 21.3k. Let's say he pays 3k/month to Dread (the animator, and the 3k is pre-taxes) =~ 18.3k. Let's suppose he needs to pay for some other stuff (like the outsourcing), so rounding it to 15k (total 180k/year). According to
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, he'd have to pay income tax closer to 23% on that (it's a progressive tax, so in reality he'd pay less than this estimate) =~11.55k/month or 138.6k/year.
In three months, Cari has a net income GREATER than the
entire average annual salary in Spain! He makes a
net 138k/year! How is that just 'decent'?!?
My link shows how many can boast that. DPC and DC are just 2 among at least a dozen that can pay for a team.
The 3k Cari might pay Dread will become closer to 2k (after all labor laws and such). That would make him get the average Spain worker salary. Hmm, he probably pays him more than that - I'd say closer to 5k pre-taxes. That would make Cari get like 123k annually or 10.27k/month. Still a great number, but I'll concede that he would have problems hiring someone else.
The world outside the USA and some specific countries doesn't pay as much as them. As I've linked above, Spain doesn't pay that much for an average worker. Cari has a much easier life than the average Spain worker - since Spain certainly has cheaper prices than the USA (for comparable cities). A guy making 12k/month in Madrid or Barcelona lives a much better life than a buy making 12k/month in Los Angeles or Phoenix, respectively. Comparison below, using the NUMBEO website:
Successful AVN devs to the level of Cari and beyond are indeed rare, but 'anomaly' is a strange term for that. He has a good product, he knows how to promote it, he delivers great updates and is an approachable guy. The anomaly is the devs that keep milking people and deliver nothing but disappointing updates (if at all).