<---- Is NOT available to teach anyone to think. If you want to repeat the same arguments on and on and on... I'm not your punching bag. Sorry.
Now:
1- What you call "Piracy", is a failure of the business model. Either it wasn't well planed or it is based on false assumptions.
2- Expectations of profit are NOT profit and not reaching those expectations (however they were calculated) is not loss. That imaginary money was never even real.
3- Artificial scarcity (Paywalls and subscription models) on an infinite resource (digital copying) are NOT solid business models. They ONLY work with enforcement, which is by itself a scam based operation to extract funds from the creators (REAL piracy).
4- Patronage are NOT sales. A patronage based business model can NEVER be called solid, it is volatile by nature. Basing income expectations on what is NOT a sale and is voluntary and prone to be cancelled, is NOT a good and steady business model.
5- Patronage is meant as a crowd funded voluntary participation on the costs of producing Art. It is NOT a subscription, it is NOT a sale and it is NOT a business.
The main issue here is not that the update was leaked, it is that the whole business model of the Dev is based on the assumption that it wouldn't be. As is demonstrated, it was a wrong assumption. Maybe try to figure out what you can do and incorporate the REAL assumption that while most of your patrons will not leak the files, there is ALWAYS the risk that it will happen.
Instead of coming here and blaming everyone for an assumption that was made, maybe use your time and effort to make sure that enough people participate in the crowd funding. Calling potential patrons thieves may not be the best option, me thinks.
No one here is guilty. If there are consequences from leaking the files, why is the downloading AFTER the fact even remotely connected to those consequences?