I would say this is probably not too close to reality. Artists, writers, actors, qa can drop into a new game a lot easier than spinning up software developers. From my experience they're treated less like a commodity than the other disciplines.
That said, not all games are services yet so once the game ships anyone can make it to the chopping block.
I'm not saying that software developers are more, or as replaceable as creative talent. I'm just saying that from the employers perspective, much much more has to go right than just software development to make a successful game.
Google/FB know that if they get the best engineers, they will have a top-tier product. But games don't have anything close to that same guarantee. You could have the most efficient, elegantly-written, perfectly abstracted game, but if the game-play sucks, it's not going to sell.
That said, not all games are services yet so once the game ships anyone can make it to the chopping block.