And you are positive he still has all that money? I wouldn't assume anything these days. There are plenty of people who are worth millions who stick around someplace they don't want to be to be worth tens or hundreds of millions.

Money is a real thing, no matter how awesome Carmack is (he's an idol of mine as well), it certainly can play a role in decisions.

Especially considering how much armadillo must have burnt.

And he subsequently lost a lot of it in passion investments. He has a talk about it somewhere.