Another Patreon down – OnTableTop – Home of Beasts of War

Another Patreon down

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This topic contains 10 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by limburger 3 years, 2 months ago.

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August 24, 2021 at 10:15 pm #1672942

blinky465
17028xp

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I follow quite a few creators on Patreon and this is the third similar-sounding email I’ve received in recent weeks (I forget who else has left the Patreon platform, since after they left, I stopped getting their update emails!)

I just wondered if this is going to become a thing now.

After all, more and more Patreon creators have moved over to hosting their minis on the myminifactory website (and, as a supporter, it’s reassuring that if I lose any of my downloaded files, I can always get them again from a cloud-based service, and I don’t have to have a mad panic at the end of each month, making sure I’ve downloaded everything before the monthly Pateron window closes).

It seems that myminifactory have noticed too – because they’re now offering their own monthly subscription patronage-type service and it looks like it’s attracting a few people over (ok, to date, there are only three that I know of, but it might be the start of “a thing”? maybe?)

Tabletop gaming and printing your own minis has really pushed the home 3d-printing market – and seen an explosion of creators popping up on Patreon. Now, it seems, a few are deciding to take their chances and leave the platform; some have set up their own websites but what caught my attention was that myminifactory seem to be offering a Patreon alternative. And if that’s the platform the minis are going to end up on any way, it sort of makes sense that creators start there too.

I’m not sure how I feel about this.

One handy thing about Patreon – as a “consumer” – is that I don’t have to go trawling loads of different websites to find cool minis to (digitally) collect each month. The downside, of course, is that I don’t go trawling loads of different websites – so it’s going to be easy to miss any cool releases, and that just triggers my FOMO!

August 25, 2021 at 6:31 am #1672959

limburger
21708xp

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I think when Patreon wanted to increase the minimum subscription level there was an exodus as well.
Some of these platforms also get into activism (usually of the leftist variety) which results in banning of creators who don’t fit their world view.
And then there’s the inevitable culling when credit card companies consider the risks too high to want to support a platform (currently happening with ‘OnlyFans’ which apparently is not a pr0n-service … despite it being known for exactly that)

It’s only natural that content creators move to a platform that suits their needs best.

Going exclusive is annoying as f*ck, but again … money and an extra boost in advertising is something that convince a lot of them as there may be too many content creators to be easily found. Of course this only works for the initial flock … so you got to be quick or else you’ll end up as yet another amateur who makes stuff and thinks his crap is worth money.

August 25, 2021 at 6:17 pm #1673092

collins
16358xp

1

Im massively disconnected on this one. is this not like any other platform in that there are enough users and the owners are doing deals to such an extent that they’re effectively buying business form other sites? pretty standard fare isn’t it?

I myself find MMF preferable because I can just redownload the files. sure I have them backed up etc but its still good to know I can go back to source too. the patreons im party too are a time limited deal on googledrive or sync or something similar.

August 27, 2021 at 12:46 pm #1673408

jamescutts
6925xp

2

I’m not sure how I feel about this either.

I’ve never been a fan of “exclusivity” it tends to be bad for consumers forcing them to use a specific platform. I assume the creators are getting a better deal out of this hopefully. Then again Pateron basically was the same thing.

MMF does seem to be the place to have digital minis, I’ve had one or two Kickstarter that’s released their files on there. As a service it works, it hopefully will provide that longer-term storage of files, I still download everything and have at least 3 backups across various locations (but I’m a bit OCD like that).

One thing that slightly worries me about MMF is its slowly becoming the go-to place, which in its self isn’t bad but the service is severely lacking polish, it is functional but still looks and feels like an initial backroom project. That again isn’t a bad thing but it slightly worries me about the investment and longer-term longevity of the platform.

August 28, 2021 at 11:43 am #1673534

sundancer
42979xp

1

I think most creative people are still trying to find their place and best ways of monetisation in an age where you don’t need big corporations to sell you stuff to mass audience. Want to make music? But it out there, no need for a record label! Want to male 3D prints? Just make them and look where you can sell them the best way.

Teething problems of a new economy.

August 28, 2021 at 2:57 pm #1673543

blinky465
17028xp

3

True. But then, as the circle turns, most consumers want all their stuff curated into a single place, making it easier for them to find stuff they like. Sure, you don’t need a record label to release music – but if you’re not putting it out on iTunes, Spotify (and, to a lesser degree, Amazon music) it’s going to reach only a tiny fraction of the potential audience. And how do you compete once you’re on a curated platform? By getting a record label to promote your music and get it on the radio/online playlists.

I saw a few creators move away from Patreon onto their own “platform” (i.e. set up their own website and encouraged supporters to sign up to that) but thought it peculiar given the fees for Patreon are roughly 10%-ish (based on user level) which is hardly a massive deal-breaker (by comparison, a few years ago I helped a friend run an electronics Kickstarter and he ended up with less than 65% of the total funds raised after all fees etc.) And I’ve supported a couple who swerved Patreon altogether (Loot Studios immediately come to mind).

One thing that a lot of miniature-based Patreon creators are starting to have in common is releasing on the myminifactory platform (there are a few who still insist on releasing through the ever-problematic Sync or Google Drive which means supporters need to remember to download everything before the month rolls over, but many now simply add their releases to your personal myminifactory library at the end of each month).

I just found it interesting that myminifactory is basically duplicating the Patreon functionality (recurring monthly billing) and a few early adopters are jumping onboard. Of course, anyone can create and release miniatures without either of these platforms (just as you *can* release your own music by uploading it to your own web server) but most of the audience are still looking for a simple, single place to go, to be told “here’s the cool new stuff for you this month” rather than go trawling the ‘net looking for stuff (in the same way many music listeners simply allow Spotify/iTunes/Amazon choose the next song from a curated list for them).

August 28, 2021 at 3:54 pm #1673557

maledrakh
Participant

11996xp

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For my part, I find that with the glut of 3D designs on the market and on patreon, there are too many to back. If a creator does not release their sculpts to MMF for delivery, I probably won’t patronise them.

September 17, 2021 at 1:30 pm #1677869

blinky465
17028xp

1

Another content creator appears to be leaving Patreon – interestingly, this time, rather than move over onto another platform, they’ve built an entire cloud-based storage system themselves.

I fully understand the business case for building and running your own infrastructure (as a developer of *cough* years, I’m a big fan of doing so myself) – but it does feel like, at some point soon, we’re going to need some kind of “curator” to pull all these separate sites together, to make it easier for customers to find and buy their minis, if things continue in this vein…?

(the pedant in me also finds umbridge in their claim that 2,000 people have “left patreon” when, in truth, they’re more likely now to be a user of *both* sites – not exactly *leaving* patreon at all – some may have been exclusive Heroes Infinite supporters, but I suspect a large majority aren’t).

September 17, 2021 at 2:42 pm #1677902

sundancer
42979xp

1

“left patreon” is really a weird wording…

September 17, 2021 at 11:30 pm #1677947

blinky465
17028xp

2

Interestingly, just as a few creators are growing tired of Patreon and looking to branch out on their own (or take the start-up offer from myminifactory to help them set up their rival platform) it looks like PuppetsWar are about to jump aboard….

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PuppetsWar (@puppetswar)

September 18, 2021 at 11:15 am #1677962

limburger
21708xp

0

It’s not “weird” when they do have a button where subscribers from their patreon hub get moved to their new page.

Unless they kill their patreon-account there’s always going to be an option for people to pick which platform they’re going to use to acquire the InfiniteHeroes content.
It will be interesting to see if they do want to move to their own server or keep both options available in the future.

Record companies had one advantage : they were the only ones capable of producing records in volume.
Given that most content is digital that advantage has ceased to exist and they (should be) back to their roots of promoting artists and their content.

The big advantage/disadvantage of digital content is that it doesn’t require a ton of knowledge to distribute (unless you want to control what people can do with your content after you sell it to them … ).

As such platforms will have to find other ways to compete as content creators advance from ‘amateur’ to ‘indy’ or ‘pro’.
Sooner or later a content creator has to decide if the amount of work they need to promote their content is stopping them from creating or selling more content. And thus they need to discover if and when they ‘sell out’.

We’re seeing this with kickstarter/crowdfunding too … Gamefound started as a way for a company to build their own pledgemanager, but it has now evolved into a crowdfunding platform. The digital realm is ever changing and unless you adopt and adapt to those changes you’re going to lose customers.
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