It's sort of true. If you get your foot in the door (almost always test), and you don't have the relevant skills for tech or art, you're pretty much left with design and production as career paths. This leaves both those disciplines with a number of career-minded individuals who don't really have much passion for game design or product management, respectively.
Honestly, though, I don't think it's that bad. Design is kind of hard to get in, so most testers that aren't passionate about it end in production, and most designers spend their time implementing content. endianswap's comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5408304 mirrors my own experience in the industry.
Honestly, though, I don't think it's that bad. Design is kind of hard to get in, so most testers that aren't passionate about it end in production, and most designers spend their time implementing content. endianswap's comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5408304 mirrors my own experience in the industry.