Justification for Compensated Labor

I used to be proud of doing everything by myself, even if the end result is lacking.  Actually, I still recommend people to try doing everything themselves, especially for their first creative endeavor -- that way they will see how much hard work it really takes to make something of quality.  Being humbled, they then will be less crass and flippant as consumers, but more importantly, they will learn to uphold value in hard work.

I have never paid anything more than $200 for commercial software.  I only remember paying that amount for Animation Master (back in the day when there was no Blender) and more recently Final Cut Express (which ironically I still haven't used since I just didn't feel like editing something substantial from all the home video clips I've made). And yet I will pay upward of thousands to get custom work done.

Why don't I buy all the professional software and learn them myself?  Well...

MSRP
$3,495.00  Autodesk Maya
$1,500.00  Unity Pro
$699.00 Photoshop CS5
-------------------
$5694.00 Total

(Thankfully, Ren'Py is free)

After paying for all that, I still won't be able to make my dream game, since it will still take me a few years of working on the software just be marginally competent and confident enough to even dare attempt a work of quality.  I might suck at 2D art, 3D modelling, programming, or even all of them!  So why not just design my dream game already, and pay professionals (who have years of experience using these tools) to do a more efficient job?  The worst that can happen is the game might still have a bad story, or bad concept.  But it would be consumeable quality otherwise.  That's exactly why division of labor and specialization works in capitalism -- it's just so much more efficient rather than reinventing the wheel.

Of course, all this would be a moot point if somehow in high school I realized I was a gifted programmer or can draw insanely well and if I were gifted with these tools (or just outright pirated them).  But no, I will only be happy if I do things the proper way.

Also, if I were absolutely sure about setting up a professional development house I will need to buy all these products for a very efficient workflow rather than scrounging around like in the dark ages of freeware.  My plan is actually a very risky strategy:  hedge all my bets on my single franchise, hope it takes off like wildfire, then contract an already established professional studio to take over development work when it's sure I have a ready pool of eager fans willing to turn into customers.

A.k.a. the Cave Story strategy (of freeware -> consoleware).