What kind of comparison is that? Most people in the world earn less than half of what a first-year associate at a NY Law Firm makes. So what? A proper comparison should be against similar professions, in the entertainment industry. Did the author do any research at all?
"Their income pales in comparison to what’s offered in other fields with reputations for brutal hours, like banking and law. The average American game developer earned $83,060 in 2013, according to a Gamasutra survey, or less than half the pay of a first-year associate at a New York law firm."
Your answer is right there for goodness sake! The author compares game developers to a first-year associate because both are "fields with reputations for brutal hours."
The author is also Jason Schreier, an editor at Kotaku which has frequently covered these topics. I would argue he's quite aware of the issues developers face, many journalists are close friends with developers in the industry.
To echo your demeaning tone: did you do any research at all?
So, yes, I think it fair to call it a lazy comparison and criticize the author for that point. Even if it doesn't really undermine any of the other well known issues with the field.
The other reason the comparison is so flawed is the education requirements for lawyers in that market and the enormous debt usually incurred in getting there. (These characteristics are not unique to lawyers, but are not totally shared with game devs.) Large NYC firms will only hire from a dozen or so law schools and those schools accept students from relatively small pool of mostly pricey undergrads. Without scholarships or aid, you're looking at $2-350,000 in student loans over the 7 years of school. Then you generally don't work for 6 months after graduation in order to study for the bar exam because you didn't expect $300k to teach you that stuff did you?
Isn't game developer in fact a class of CS professional?