Should I raise my prices? (Patreon)

Howdy, Cadets.

This post is going to be a little different from what I usually post. As you may have already seen over on the Discord, Steam has just updated its guidelines to be more in line with its payment processors. This means that a wide variety of pornographic and kink material is now forbidden on the platform. Unfortunately, this means that 'Worshippers of the Gain' (Currently on Steam) and 'FOXXX' (Slated for release on Steam next year) are no longer eligible to be uploaded or hosted on the platform.

As you can probably imagine, it's both stressful and incredibly disheartening to be told that a game I worked on for years is likely to be removed, and that another I've worked on for even longer is unlikely to ever be allowed on the platform in the first place.

This has all made me take stock of my situation and the livability of my work, and ultimately, I have to admit that I don't feel like I can support myself and do FOXXX the justice it deserves with my current income.

Below, I've pulled together a rationale for a small price increase to the Patreon and SubscribeStar tiers:

Although not my main source of revenue, the loss of Steam sales is still a significant blow. It stands to make my job a lot harder, and approaching artists something I can do with even less frequency.

Since I began development on FOXXX in 2021, I haven't adjusted any of my prices to follow inflation. The tiers, which are £3, £6 and £10, are now closer to £3.72, £7.42 and £12.41 when adjusted for the four years of inflation during the game's development.

As it stands, I earn considerably below minimum wage. The minimum wage in my country is £12.21 an hour, and I currently earn just over £10 an hour. As you can probably imagine, this makes things very tricky, especially when factoring in reinvestments into my projects, artwork, etc, etc.

Having surpassed 830,000 words (55 hours of reading), there are now far smaller projects in the same space which charge more. I feel that a price increase would more accurately reflect the worth of my work now that it's gone some real meat on its bones.

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to you all for the continued support. Even if your answer in this poll is a resounding "No", I will do my very best and work my hardest to deliver games I can be proud of, and I will keep doing so as long as I am able.

Thank you, Cadets.