To be fair, LoS1 got a budget, something IGA never did. Furthermore, it got more marketing than I have ever seen the series get. It doesn't seem surprising to see something that had money pooled into it make money. IGA tried to make dinner out of table scraps, but MS was given cuisine to start with in comparison.
Until I see someone prove to me IGA got table scraps, I'm going to go with his own word that he got at least reasonable budgets.
Likewise, LoS was already said to be made on a small budget. Obviously handheld budgets are naturally going to be smaller than console ones, so a small 360/PS3 budget is going to be larger than a small DS budget, but I still think the money talk is largely irrelevant, especially considering that depending on how sales go, LoS2 may definitely prove that budget =/= sales.
LoS was a good game. It sold well because people liked it. I stand by what I said.