I think you misunderstand, this is not competition I for one wish it was. This is about clogging the hole with too much waste that your toilet floods.
Sorry the school computer is not an argument :).
I think what the guy said is true, while you can cut cost with Blender you wont cut it with other software, paying your team or even basic expenses for your time and life. and blender alone comes with cost too, the cost of time. time to learn it to learn new things create pipeline for your game, troubleshoot etc… And all this is multiplied by a factor of two and three when using open source software 90% of the time. Because of lack of support, technical tools not readily available etc…
This is not about denying anyone anything, I think it just needs to be fairer, it can’t be perfect but it needs to be revised, if you could keep an open mind to that you will be better off maybe not now but as a career job if you wish to be a developer or work in the field in general.
5000$ today is in fact money enough to pay one person one month salary on a special agreement, maybe, if you are lucky. And believe me you can’t get jack ■■■■ done in one month in this field if you are serious.