Sure... They've all always paid at some point. All of them. No one admits that they're actually among those who only ever take and demand, but never contribute anything.
Well, I do not know how true that is, I will just come out and say that i play 99% of VNs (adult or otherwise) for free. But here is my reasoning : the 99% are all in development games, and I am just not willing to pay a subscription every month for years even if its just $1. On the other hand, the other 1% are the completed games which I gladly buy from steam/ST/itch wherever it is offered. Even if the final price of the full game would be way more than what I pay overall in subscriptions over the development period.
Same with this game, I have played every update from the very first one on here for free but I will buy it as soon as its on Steam.
On a side note, I will admit that your point of people eating for free but still demanding more is shitty, but I cant be too mad at that because some people just do not have the disposable income to blow on games, let alone AVNs and i highly doubt the devs take those people too seriously.