I think this post from a year ago should speak for itself.
The guy they replied to was basically saying the game would never be finished. Take note, this was literally a year ago. Around this time, 23.6 was released. We're now on 23.9e. I don't think you can really defend this type of work ethic. I mean it's understandable, I've had writer's block and never came back to something until 2 years later to finish it, but it was a hobby because I know I can't be arsed to write when I'm uninspired.
Unfortunately, we're in a state where people will throw money at creators for years because there's lack of enforcement on content delivery (it took years of inactivity from Monster Girl Island for Patreon to finally pull the plug on it). And why would Patreon care? They're still getting their cut regardless. I find it hard to blame creators
entirely for their lack of diligence when they are enabled by a combination of people who don't keep tight control on finances and sites like Patreon. Why do something you don't want to when you don't have to? That doesn't make the creator excusable, however, because they know it's wrong to take advantage of it (or perhaps some have an ego complex where they feel like they deserve money for nothing).
But on another note.
I'm pretty sure he's barely able to live with 3000 $ a month considering the gigantic amount of money he spent on the 6 or 7 piece of art he leaked since 8 months.
This entirely depends on where they live and their acceptable QoL for whether that's 'gigantic' or not. If they live in the US, $36,000 (before taxes) a year would be just above comfortable single-living if you live in a high-tax state (especially New York). Even worse so when you account for the fact Patreon takes a cut and you must buy whatever passes for affordable prices for health insurance, likely through Patreon's Stride health insurance program. That is of course, all assuming that this is their 'full-time job'. If they're pulling in even $20,000/year from a full time or part time, then yeah they're swimming pretty well I'd imagine. Which I'd probably recommend to any creator since spending the last 5 years sitting at home to work on a pornographic game 24/7 probably won't fly too well on a resume when patreon or your patrons finally pull the plug on you.
I think it's good show that Thresh is willing to invest money into their project for artists even if it benefits them in the end to do so. There's a bunch of creators who don't even fucking do that and use cheap overused 3d programs to make their porn or just draw it themselves when they have no talent, yet still pull a sizeable amount on Patreon. Definitely however, that is not a ton of money they're spending. If they hired someone to help, that could severely start to cut in on their current living expenses, whatever they may be, in hopes that all the new content drops would cause new donations that cover the cost of their hired help. Bit of a risky investment and they lose their absolute control of the project. The only time I've seen it done myself is by Fenoxo's gang but he was hemorrhaging money from furries so it wasn't a huge risk to hire help (plus the help now have their own patreons to feed from too).