The article also states that the founders had endeavored to distribute more of their share to the other employees, and this was a sticking point in Krafton’s attempt to walk back the original deal:

But the trio declined, claiming the amount was not “anything close to what they deserved, and did not allow them to share the earnout with the full team.””

Given this I don’t think we can fairly prejudge the trio — if they’d received the bonus and then reneged on their promise or made it a negligible amount then it’d be fair to judge them harshly.