yeah seems like this cryptonight machine have been profitable only to the ppl who made it.
Well the point is, why, if I produce a machine that bring me $200 per day should I sell it for $2000? I will make way more profit keeping it for myself.
The problem is that only few sellers produces/sells ASICs. So there is a strong market manipulation.
The exit way from my point of view will come when people will start to release software to use FPGA to mine. FPGA are available to the public and the software will include a share for the developer. This will fight the ASICs.
Almost all FPGA-friendly algoritms are taken by ASICs in 2017.
Although it is possible to implement some popular algorithms of FPGA, there is a problem. It may require a custom and expensive PCB in order to match the GPU performance on existing algoritms.
All existing algoritms are too easy for ASICs but too complex for FPGA. It is hard to achieve even 1 year ROI today by using mid- and high-range development board.
So coin's developers should carefully choose algorithms to target FPGA before releasing a new coin. It is easy to create a bitstreams for a popular development boards, but it should be profitable.