a code monkey in the trenches who literally made your favorite game

So Iwata? Obviously being a CEO is bad, but he was a "code monkey" at some point and continued to contribute to programming even when he was CEO. That's better than some out of touch asshole who knows jack shit about programming or games and doesn't care.

Post-capitalism the people you would want leading a project like game development (unless you are completely against hierarchies, but eh) are people like him.