Breaking down Patreon's fees:
Patroen gets %2.9 + 0.30 from every donation, which comes out to $0.45 for a $5 patron.
There's also the platform fee, which ranges from %5 to %12 depending on the package you sign up for (to have membership tiers requires at least an %8 fee). That can become a large number at the level of support this game gets, but %92 of a lot is still a lot.
Let's not kid ourselves, at the current level of support this game gets (deservedly so), he's making more than the average joe right now.
But Patreon funding is volatile. They could yank the account on a whim, most likely because of the niece thing which skirts their line. And if the game moves in a direction players don't like, that can cause a sharp drop in patrons -- and let's be honest, when the game moves into darker territory, a lot of people are gonna get salty and withdraw support. That aspect of the game is not as consistently popular as the lighter side.
There's no doubt he's making more than the general average, I won't argue that, it's that third point you made I'm talking about, the volatility of this income source. I doubt that Patreon will be an issue for incest, they rarely strike on a relationship like that one and I've never seen a niece/uncle game get hit. Add onto that that the actual player character is implied at first to be someone different in his body and they may overlook any part after that because of this 'clear evidence' that he is not. Especially with a secondary SubscribeStar in play, that means a ToS violation isn't really an issue even if he does get hit, but that doesn't mean the income is any less volatile. That next part is easily the biggest threat in this regard, players can be extremely fickle at times and all it takes is the tiniest undesired change for a patron to stop supporting. Make a change that enough people don't like, even if it does not eliminate funding entirely, and he won't have the funding to continue with that income alone like he is now. That then means getting a new source, a job, which then takes away time. Time is the absolute most critical resource a game developer needs. I also believe there is almost guaranteed to be a sharp drop in support due to the darker content coming in the future, the Denpa genre doesn't exactly have a large following for that very reason, not everyone likes dark content and so they will refuse to support it. I am, of course, not one who would drop for that because I actually like darker content, but my own feelings on it are beside the point.
The game is playable that way, tbh. You miss out on some jump scares, there's at least one scene where the answer to a riddle is told to you audibly, and the OST is trash to begin with but becomes pretty damned good during events later. It's one of only two games (along with Harem Collector) where I actually play with the sound on-- it helps that it doesn't have Cheesy Japanese Sex Noises like most games of this sort, so having the sound on isn't going to make my wife or kids wander over to see wtf is going on.
TL,DR: if you use a guide you don't need sound, but it honestly does make the game better.
I actually like the soundtrack, though this is why it is risky to use royalty free stuff that already exists instead of original music, but not everyone has the knowledge of music needed to be able to do so. I would really be struggling to bear the game with sound on if it had those sex sounds, I tend to turn that off by any means available, preferably by controls that are specific to those sounds.
I human very well, thank you very much. I'm not the one abstaining from going onto a piracy site because people are pirating a game i made.
His goals have been achieved, it has not affected his bottom line (that graph clearly debunks that argument), he's got nothing (on that front) to worry about.
I think you mean he's got nothing on that front to worry about YET. A sharp drop in patrons, such as the one that is likely to result from dark content being very niche content that most people will turn away from when it really goes south, can ruin his income entirely. There's not even any way to tell how many of his active patrons are willing to continue even with that dark content, I may be the only patron left standing or we may all continue despite the dark content, only when we get to that point will we know for sure. I can only say for sure that I will remain no matter the content he adds.
It's just like incest or loli, any kind of niche content bears the risk of turning people, even active patrons, away instantly and potentially in numbers great enough to cripple the project.
I don't think making a good income means that nothing ever makes it go down. That's not how numbers work.
Also, if you've ever met a human, you'll probably notice that they don't like feeling ripped off, and that is unrelated to income level. People also want to improve their lot in life, also without regard to current income level. A poor person in the US is filthy rich by Somali standards, and yet the want more. I have a decent car and yet I'd like one that is actually *good*. This is how humans tick, and it's normal and okay. Just because you want free shit doesn't make someone else bad for wanting what they've earned.
Now, all that being said, I do doubt that there are a significant number of people who would totally pledge $5 but don't because piracy sites exist. The world is a big place so there are probably a very few such folks, so I suspect but cannot prove that the number of pledging fans he gains because they found the game on F95 tremendously exceed the number of people who can afford $5 but won't pay it because of piracy.
Thing is, this game is so fucking good that a lot of people find it (by whatever means) and are impressed enough to just want to chuck a little money at the guy. He deserves it.
That is correct, there is always something that could bring his income to an abrupt end with an income as volatile as Patreon/SubscribeStar. Income does not stay flowing at the same level, it can and will rise or fall depending on certain circumstances with player preferences being the most dangerous of those circumstances.
You went on a tangent there about a bunch of things, but the bottom line is that he's achieved all the goals he set out to achieve, and it's exactly because of sites like this that he has done so.
He would have to fuck up on a grotesque level for his numbers to go substantially down (that or quitting for months on end).
Like i said previously, i'm a patreon supporter of him myself, but he has got zero reasons (on the financial front) to complain about this, with the money he's making, he's one of the big boys now.
Piracy helps everyone out (especially nowadays).
He doesn't need a reason to complain, when things are being stolen right in front of your very eyes, you automatically have the right to complain about it.
Also, you underestimate how fickle players can be, not that many people like dark content, or incest, which Ami legally counts as assuming the whole 'player Sensei is another personality' theory I have going or another theory putting the Sensei in control now as the same Sensei she's always known are true. That could very easily cause a drop in support with each part that is added that certain patrons don't like.
I don't know if you've noticed, but there have been several people in this thread alone who have specifically asked if there was a way to avoid the content already in the game with both Ami and the darker aspects of the game. We're not even into the truly dark side of the story yet, so try multiplying that by a factor of 10 and you'll see the kind of response he might get, monetarily or through comments. He's more likely than not to get a negative response to it.
LOL.... ok, fair enough, I did.
I agree with you that it helps, and I find his reasoning flawed. I do, however, think that he is within his rights to bitch about it and given his (possibly flawed) assumptions, from his POV he has good reason. To put it more succinctly, he has more right to bitch about piracy than I have to bitch about him bitching.
The financial front bit is irrelevant. The fact that someone has money doesn't mean they have less right to keep what is theres (IMHO).
He is within his right to complain, that is correct. That is really the only point I'm making myself with a bunch of little sub-points to go with it.
I know a guy who made his own port for Android for his game that could help this game out
Ports have a tendency to break the game even more than it already was by trying to play it the normal way on Android. The compressed versions you see pop up on occasion are especially volatile in this regard as compression can do things to a game that were never intended and were never planned around. Android just doesn't do large files very well, it was made for mobile devices, which are meant to only use smaller files in the first place.