To you it might not matter. But if the game is going to be released for free a mere 7 days later, and the only benefit (besides discord access and voting in polls) is that you don't have to wait, I don't see the point of leaking it in the first place. If you (not you personally) get it a week early or a week later, your still waiting 3 weeks each update, why the rush to post here? I just don't get it, this is the most friendly and pro consumer Dev I've ever seen in this sight. Hurting his bottom line that allows him to put the effort in and devote his full time just makes no sense to me.
I completely agree with you about piracy part and releasing updates without waiting makes zero sense.
But there is a saying: the free cheese is only in the mouse trap
If Dev has a different business model it doesn't mean his game is free. Same with "yourtubers", you don't even need to donate to some of them, but some of them are still making millions out of free videos.
And Dev is far away from "most friendly and pro consumer".
Let me give you an example.
I have about a thousand games on Steam.
For some I left positive reviews, for some negative.
For one tower defence game I left a negative review, because it crashed all the time and reset all progress to zero.
The dev of this tower defence game, after a negative review, contacted me directly to help fix the problem, (btw, it was not my fault, it was actually the game system broken) and generate save files, so I can restore my lost progress.
I changed my negative review to positive after that. And he fixed the problem on his side.
Le Stag's reaction to anything negative about his game is just so childish.