Sure, but I don't think pirates expect anything. But they can still feel sorry and show dissatisfaction for the 8000 people who's paying atm. Also, I agree that many pirates will probably never open their wallet, so that doesn't affect ICSTOR's income either way, if they play it or not.
Oh yes they do, when people are used to get something for free, they can easily complain when they no longer have it. I remember the time where the youtuber angry joe was releasing less game reviews in 2014-2015. Many people were Furious at him for doing something they did not wanted, even if more than 19 out of 20 of those subscribers did not paid anything in their life to the channel, yet they thought that because they watched him for free, angry joe should do what they want...
Many people (not all of them) that are complaining about milfy city don't care about the patreon subscribers of Icstor.
For the big majority, people would not give a second of energy into that, there are thousands of people who are victim of fraud every day, a billion times worse than what Icstor does as it's most bad and yet a lot of those people would barely give a minute of time (that is if they do at all) arguing and complaining about those events if it's not personally affecting them.
Heck there are people mocking his subscibers for still paying him, calling them morons for doing so. So no, I am not buying that the complaining (from people who didn't pay a cent in their life) about the lack of update from Icstor is for the greater good of the people who are paying him.
Heck many even suggested that his subscribers should stop paying him until he release an update because the want him to work harder on this game. Do you think they do that because they care about the way of life of Icstor, that he might get lazy and that is bad for him? Or that they complain because they care for the subscribers, people that they have never seen or interracted with in their entire life and are at worse losing a 2 dollar per months?
The real reason is because they want that update and they are not getting it. That does not mean that Icstor is the good guy here, just that the reason behind the complaining (from the people who never paid anything) is far from being heroic or nice as you want to present it.
By the way, I never said that if it was impossible to play milfy city outside of giving money on patreon, pirates would magically turn into customers. It might not affect the income of Icstor, but that has never been my point. I am also not againt piracy in general. Just that the pirates should not except any sympathy just because they are not getting the updates to a game they are not even suppose to have in the first place and are obtaining illegally. That is big a difference.