Crush knew the main purpose of the site when he signed on i'm sure.
Also i'm positive they're not losing much if any noticeable profit when the game gets shared here, because i doubt there are a lot of people here (or anywhere?) who are ponying up 5 bucks a month just to get the releases a couple weeks early. That's not any kind of value proposition at all. It's an option for people who genuinely want to support the project and can justify the expense in their situation. You know... like the original purpose of patreon's
patrons, rather than this newer approach many have of treating it as some weird marketplace.