- May 24, 2024
- 5
- 9
- May 29, 2024
- 13
- 5
Bro I have hard times challenging this shit even now. Can't imagine it was even harder
Ahh the classic once money starts flowing, updates come to grinding halt, people shoulda learned by now but eh it is what it is
- Aug 12, 2016
- 514
- 995
People need to do a little critical thinking. The whole "devs are lazy and trying to milk Patreons" narrative is very common and it COULD be true, if it's the case of a game that has tens of thousands of patreons.
But Orc Massage? You take a quick look at it and you can see that it has less than 500 patrons right now. Assuming on average patrons are on the $5 tier then that's only $2500 per month, but it'll be much less if most patrons are only on the $1 tier.
Orc Massage is on STEAM though. And Steam has WAY more reach than patreon, and Steam isn't subscription based. You buy the game once, you own it. The devs have a financial incentive to actually finish a game and publish on Steam, since you tend to get more sales once you're out of early access.
How much more? Who's to say, but according to SteamDB these are the estimated number of people who own the game on steam:
Even going by the low estimate number of 100k owners, at $15 usd price... that $1.5m USD.
With that kind of money on the table you really think they're going to waste time milking the 500 patrons?
But Orc Massage? You take a quick look at it and you can see that it has less than 500 patrons right now. Assuming on average patrons are on the $5 tier then that's only $2500 per month, but it'll be much less if most patrons are only on the $1 tier.
Orc Massage is on STEAM though. And Steam has WAY more reach than patreon, and Steam isn't subscription based. You buy the game once, you own it. The devs have a financial incentive to actually finish a game and publish on Steam, since you tend to get more sales once you're out of early access.
How much more? Who's to say, but according to SteamDB these are the estimated number of people who own the game on steam:
Even going by the low estimate number of 100k owners, at $15 usd price... that $1.5m USD.
With that kind of money on the table you really think they're going to waste time milking the 500 patrons?
Counterpoint, they've already made bank at 1.5m USD, the money they've made through multiple months of patreon income and the lowest estimate of 500USD per month remaining is just a nice little bonus. All they have to do is release a new update and people will probably resub or buy the game, rinse and repeat.
Granted, I do not think it's purely out of malice or greed, because as you said, they can make a lot more money if they were more consistent. I personally think it's either complacency, mismanagement, scope creep or sheer incompetence.
At least they need to have some transparency and communicate with the people that are subbed to them on patreon and their community in steam more frequently. You can't spend so much time without anything to show (that consumers can actually get their hands on, not just some gifs and pictures in a devlog) without garnering a fair amount of criticism. Hell, the supposed winter update from last year was delayed and halfway through 2024 they still haven't released anything.
The devs being lazy COULD be true, depending on how substantial the next update is (and it better be worth the year long wait but I doubt it), but they are absolutely milking patreons. Even if the amount is not that substantial, they are still taking in the money of people with absolutely nothing to show for their customers.