Seven people, allegedly. They are demonstrably frauds and liars, so why not pad numbers a bit? Make it seem like the money has to go further than it actually does. Like they once claimed someone who allegedly worked on the new Blade Runner film was working with them. All lies, I reckon, to keep the money coming in. Keep the fraud goind a little longer. When this one falls flat, if it falls flat, start a new one under a new Patreon ID. I will give them some benefit of the doubt and I reckon they started Malise and the Machine meaning well, but making a big, or even average sized, RPGM game that looks and plays well is hard. Completing it would take a lot of effort, and they noticed they could milk a lot of money giving limp and late updates. It's the only likely explanation for the MATM prologue looking and playing so well compared to the shit since.