10k in pay is decent in the US. $10k in Patreon subs isn't remotely the same. Patreon is going to be taking up to 30% when all is said and done. That 70% you get is only $84k/year in revenue. Assuming he was above board as a dev, he would have spent some of that on Daz assets and the hardware to render the game on. If you've been top 50-ish in adult games on Patreon while using Daz assets, I'm gonna guess some of the Daz model sellers are verifying you've paid to use their assets that appear in your game.
Gemini (google AI) says that to be the equivalent of $120k in pay from a normal job would be like $160k-180k as an indie, so his $84k is not even half of what Graphtreon might make it seem. After expenses and self-employment taxes on the remainder, $120k in Patreon might be equal to making $60k at a regular job. Lots of variable in there, but definitely not "getting rich" levels of income.
As I've said on the topic before, not defending BD in the least, just trying to bring some reality to this conversation, as folks who've never been self-employed in the US don't understand the distinction between getting a paycheck and being hit with that 1099. I also just read that the Patreon 1099 in the US is for gross revenue, so you likely have to do a self-employed or business-type return to write off all the fees they charged. Otherwise you're paying income tax on the money they took from you.
