So, the solution to having games abandoned is have even more games abandoned? Because that's what basically "supporting someone is not a financially sound decision" amounts to.
Most devs use initial support to gauge interest. Praise on the internet is great but at some point it stops justifying the quite many hours needed to invest, nor can help with the bills.
I understand that people are frustrated when they've "invested" X amount of money to a project only for it to wither away, but that's how investments are. Not all play out.
Because in the end, that's what supporting someone is. Enabling his content to exist because you like it, to the best of your ability. Not buy a product that has value comparable to the money you've invested. That mindset is a recipe for disappointment.
Before you can buy your AAA tile (and I don't even know why that is a remotely good comparison) for 60$, someone has invested dozens of millions of dollars for it to exist.
It's the same analogy here, except with no payback apart from the fact that this "something" is out there.
Investments, generate an ROI. A completed project, is not an ROI. It as sthe expected result and the entitled end. I buy a car, I dont garner any ROI from that. I have a product to use. Same thing here. Patronage, entitles one to a product. I get that result form my local grocer, whom I patronize. I get it from the local service station fast food outlet, clothing store, department store. What I dont get, is an ROI. And that is because, patronage, is not an investment.
