Figured I would chime in some here and share my take on what's recently been transpiring as someone who produces/releases a game on Patreon and as someone who's had websites of their own sort of like Patreon.
Buckle up folks, this is going to be some heavy reading!
First of all, the facts...
1.) Patreon and their servers are located in the United States, while they do not necessarily host the files that are provided from creators to their patrons, they do provide website space and image sharing. This is important to note, as they are susceptible to the state and federal laws that pertain to the location that their servers are located and can be harassed, sopenad and in some case be held liable for the content that passes or is distributed on their servers.
2.) Patreon does a lot more than just adult games, files, videos and whatnot... and though it does produce a large amount of income, it is not their primary business... the fact that they do allow for adult business/product sales to take place on their website opens them up to risk... or as an Internet Merchant Account/Banking institution would classify it as "High Risk", where a large amount of credit card declines and charge backs can occur.
3.) On the subject of the aforementioned Banking, Patreon must adhere to the principles set forth by their Internet Merchant Account/Banking Institution, as well as, any principles and limitations that they agree to when conducting business with ANY merchant accounting business (such as PayPal)... these institutions and banks are very clear in what they will or will not allow in the matter of "High Risk Adult Content/Products" and Patreon must adhere to those limitations or risk losing their Internet Merchant Account and money charging processes... and, I assure you, the limitations and penalties ARE severe!!!
4.) When a company like Patreon submits a request for an Internet Merchant Account and Gateway, it requires a "Secure Server License" that is required for the Gateway to tell the bank that owns the Internet Merchant Account that the website is secure... meaning that when a person types in their banking information to conduct a transaction, that information is securely encrypted and that 3rd party people cannot access that information... to subscribe for that yearly license, the website is scanned once or twice a year to be sure that it adheres to the standards set forth by the Internet Merchant Account (i.e. bank) including, but not limited to, the terms of service set forth by those banking institutions as well as any terms set by the business providing the Secure Server License.
With all of that said, I can assure you that Patreon's Internet Merchant Account holder (i.e. bank), because Patreon allows the sale of adult services and products, also has an established liquid asset fund (or what I call an extortion fee) that must remain constantly in the bank (usually a set percentage) in the event of the usual high volume of charge backs and credit card declines... this "extortion fee" is held by the bank, for no less than 9 months after the Internet Merchant Account has been closed by the business conducting adult sales and transactions.
Meaning, that if Patreon was dissatisfied with the service, rates or exchange fees of the bank holding their Internet Merchant Account, the bank can hold that reserve money (extortion fee) for 9 months to a year an a half before releasing it back to the owners of Patreon... in addition, Patreon, if all they were doing was switching to a different Internet Merchant Account (bank) would also have to fill that bank's determined reserve before they could open for business...
So, if one bank is holding say $100,000.00 USD in reserve against potential charge backs and declines, and the new bank also wants a $100,000.00 USD reserve to protect themselves, that means Patreon has $200,000.00 USD of their money held hostage by the banks that they can never touch and can only get back after 9-18 months of Merchant Account Closure minus any bank transactional fees... so for 9-18 months, Patreon wouldn't be able to get the $100,000.00 USD from their first Internet Merchant Account... that money sits there until the bank decides to release it.
Now with all of that said... the banks truly hold all of the power, not Patreon... the banks. The banks at anytime can decide to clean up their portfolios in preparation to sell their bank to another banking institution (I know, I've had this happen to me while running an adult website), suddenly forcing you to find a new Internet Merchant Account (bank) that will allow you to do adult business, so that the bank that is up for sale looks spiffy and clean to a potential buyer.
Additionally, they can change their policy ANY TIME, WITHOUT notice... if they don't like something they see on your website, they can instruct the website owner to remove it or they will close the Internet Merchant Account down and fine you... causing your money to sit in limbo or till they feel like letting it go... nothing you can do.
THAT is the reality of running a website that conducts financial business on the Internet... so yeah, Patreon is suddenly cracking down on content that could cost them their Internet Merchant Account... which means not just the Adult sector of Patreon wouldn't be able to make money, but ALL OF THEIR CREATORS and website owners wouldn't be able to do business.
Realistically, and quite honestly, the fact that Patreon does and has been allowing adult creators to conduct and sell stuff on their website amazes me... as it IS "High Risk" and could put their entire business model at risk if the banks decide to force Patreon to change (which it looks like they have)... if I had been the owner of Patreon, I would've opened a separate website business sole for adult businesses and services, this way if a bank DID decide to pressure me that they couldn't shut my NON-ADULT business down, only the adult one... plus, I would also have a lower reserve on the non-adult merchant account... but, apparently, the owners of Patreon don't have the experience that I sadly had to learn over the last 20 years... but they are now.
Long story short... what you are witnessing isn't really all of Patreon's fault... if they are to blame for anything, it is for not better managing the adult area to adhere to the Banking Institutions requirements and are likely paying the price for it right now.
That's what you really see happening here folks... choose to believe it or not, but I am 99.9% positive of it.
