Hmm, maybe i truly misundertsand the sitiation, but what you’re describing vis a vis Godot seems pretty much the same as with Defold. My reading of the announcement is that Bjorn and other(s) will be working on Defold full time, with pay, initially from a King contribution, and eventually through donation and other support (patreon, git, etc) similar to your $2500 per bloke Godot situation as described.
There is nothing (that i can see) in the licence that says someone who is a regular quality contributor can’t be hired by the Foundation and paid for their work, and nothing (that i can see…) That imposes any limitations on you using Defold, including modifying the h*ll out of it to make your niche application, other than you can’t then resell your cool new modded-Defold editor/engine, only the app/game you made with it. Again, as far as I can see i dont see a clause that says the Defold Foundation can legally stop you from selling your game because you made significant changes to your own copy of the engine that aren’t in line with their vision of the direction of the feature-packed, slim, engine they’re maintaining and offering for free.
I dunno, I’m not a lawyer, certainly not a Swedish lawyer, I’m not even a real game dev. @britzl, help us understand.