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Publisher is the one getting paid, first and foremost. Oftentimes the developer studio gains a cut off a sold game only after the pub has reimbursed their funding and profit. Developers are paid a salary and contractors paid a contract fee.

You can see why contract work is so lucrative for studios: the contract can end when necessary in order to save on salaries. It makes sense in production too. Contractors can fill in a gap that is not feasible to be kept as a salaried position.

But here’s the rub: as games become ever more expensive to produce, so does the amount and quality of contract made assets too. The number of contractors grows as the work becomes more commonplace.