That or just people doing a solid for the dev given they give the previous version for free. Personally, I'm in favor of showing goodwill to engaged devs who do early access myself, where hostile/paywall devs I'm for having it dropped.
Just my view on it, since we've got hundreds of other games to keep us occupied in meantime. I do wish this dev did a little update post for patrons a bit more often to see what's up though, as I like the game, which is rare for RPGMaker type ones. (Plus the soundtrack has a few bangers).