I think speed is often the issue with in-house development. Sure, you could make a pretty good product by spending a few billion dollars, but you won't get it next week. An already established install count has to be worth something too.
The more I work, the less mentally demanding games I want to play to cool off. An online match of Street Fighter 4 after a long day of coding does wonders for taking your mind off bugs and backlogs.
Switching platforms also helps. Close the laptop, sit on the couch, turn on the xbox.
Perhaps there is a strategy that doesn't require a lot of resources. If there is, I'd be interested to hear about it. Something akin to whipping up a linode box with a pre-made script.