1) most likely, just look at his success rate in terms of how many of his games did succeed.
2) now the definition of success. if he took 5 years to develop the game, he has to net a very (very) minimum of 20 millions to start becoming successful. Remember, you can't just pay one salary developing software, you have to cover: salaries (top engineers and top artists) + (the most important) investment for the next games + bad years + grow you company (that's the point of a company) + hardware + R&D to stay at the top of your game + retirement money because you cant do this after 38. 20 millions net is a very optimistic number, I wouldn't be happy with that, I would be happy with netting 50.
Did he net 50 millions? If yes, then yes he was starting to become successful. If he did this 3 games in a row, now he wasnt lucky.
Now dont get me wrong, this game is a wondeful piece of art, but it's likely not a succesful company.