I actually don't like the ICO, because it doesn't have a fixed price. Today, I might buy it at $1 per coin and tomorrow at $.01.
If 2000 tokens should be given today and two people throw 1ETH each, they'll get 1000 tokens each.
If 2000 tokens should be given today and ten people throw 1ETH each, they'll get 200 tokens each.
Also, please note that EOS is a collaboration. Block.one has 15 developers on their website, and those are just the main team members. Block.One also has private investors, and has had a really huge ad campaign. I'm sure that investors are getting a huge chunk of the money made during the ICO.
$1 billion is crazy, we will see what it actually ends up being by the end of it, but I doubt it will be less than $500 million, and wouldn't be surprised if it surpasses $1 billion.
Steem is a great platform, and is a huge improvement over bitshares. It seems that EOS will have the same ratio of advancement over the steem chain at least.
What really is valuable about EOS (and steem), is that it is set to reduce the barrier of entry into the blockchain space. Its one of the few projects that has a huge focus on usability and flexibility. I don't know if it will be a profitable ICO to participate in, in the short run, but I do think that it will be a very important project.