Yeah, Patreon is bullshit. Basically the people who pay towards it play the role of investors except they get fuck all for their investment. "Special Renders" is not worth their investment, so basically out of the goodness of their own hearts they are funding a team to create something and they will never see a cent for their money.
I reckon Patreon should be overhauled such that, at the end of the day, Patrons get back from the game sales in proportion to the amount they invested. Patreon should have a shop where anyone can one-off buy the game (at any level of development), and also it should incorporate revenue from all other outlets (Steam etc.) People can invest exactly like they do now, but they actually get some shit back if the game does well.
Every dollar sunk into the Patron subscriptions still makes its way to DPC, but those who subscribe and unsubscribe at the release of each episode should be managed as sales, not subscriptions.
I'd be behind that model, rather than the current one that has people paying fucking hundreds and hundreds of dollars for fucking what? Their name in the credits? You don't even actually get the game unless you at least pay a one off $14 subscription...
Whilst I love this game, I wouldn't spend much more on it than any other game. Let's say there's gonna be 4 seasons, given the current Steam price for season 1, that's a AAA price tag right there, which is kinda rich given it's just a fucking story book, but hey, it's presses the right buttons, so it's probably worth it, as a one off cost.
But to pay a monthly subscription to Patreon, to me, it's not worth it. I mean good on everyone who does, who gives DPC the incentive to work on this full time, but fuck that, the system is ridiculous.
And yeah,
LuciferPrometheus, I take your point really well. The subscribers are investors paying for his startup, his "business" should be the sales through other outlets. It's not DPC's fault though, that the Patreon model is so skewed.