I agree with this, some of the games named above are clearly not "scams" and crowdfunding isn't inherently bad, however I do think it could do with some regulation.First because you don't consider title worth your money doesn't mean it is a scam. I think that Subverse is well worth the money I spent on it. But people have unrealistic expectations they think that you few mil and inexperienced team is gonna result in AAA game.
Second many great games were made thanks to crowd funding, because some abuse it (human fucking nature) doesn't mean it is not worth to support devs this way.
If you think that classic publisher-dev way of developing game is the way to go and you worry about the money lost to scams - think about your successful game and think how much of the profit goes towards making games and how much goes to pockets of owners and investors.
Finally porn games are not only niche but also carry "image" cost so no publishers will want to pick them anyway. The obscure companies that are willing to take them up are no strange to scam themselves as they have no image to upkeep. Where would we be without patreon ? Probably playing crappy browser games.
@ Piracy ... ignoring the aspect whatever it is good or bad for porn games I think it can be easily said that it is another incentive to go patreon route.
Patreon's design for example is extraordinarily anti-consumer, it's essentially hand crafted to support scams and they have no incentive to change whilst they're earning their cut risk free. They make individual due diligence impossible, don't do any due diligence themselves, let devs manage their pages so they can remove negative comments/old posts, don't have any enforced requirements regarding roadmaps and product descriptions, there's no review functionality, they fight refunds tooth and nail etc.
Sooner or later there will probably be a massive project that causes this to come to a head and regulators will clamp down on it but it won't be over porn games. It'll probably get worse moving forward too as it becomes easier to put together impressive looking demos in UE5, even for those who lack the ability to follow through.