Oh I'm fully aware that it is money-driven, but the past has been instrumental in demonstrating that the big publishers couldn't give a crap about the development studios. As an example, Westwood got absorbed by EA and they disappeared, and so did their fantastic games. Can you honestly tell me that they made more money from being bought out by EA than they would have if they'd have continued to develop under their own brand and then have EA distribute their games? There have been no good C&C games since Red Alert and Red Alert 2, and there's certainly a market for them. If Westwood were still around in their original form, I bet they'd still be taking a huge share of the market with their franchise.
I don't understand why the smaller studios can't realise that they're better off without deals like this in the long run. Gaming fans are also very loyal to developers when they like their games, and it takes a lot for them to turn away from buying a game in a franchise that they like. Developers need to put more faith in the public than in the publishers. The devs know what they want, and they know what the public want, and they can give it to them. The publishers just want to make money and they don't care who they screw to get it.