With the experience of airsoft YouTubers of having their revenues getting smaller with the changes in policy on YouTube affecting creators of gun and related stuff, they look for other ways in which they can earn more revenues as they have staked their livelihood in creating content on YouTube.

One way for them is to use Patreon, which many content creators, including some airsoft YouTubers, are happy with as they can have their subscribers put in some small pledges. If they have tens of thousands of subscribers, even having a small percentage of these giving small amounts via Patreon will amount to something significant. Subscribers can pledge a small amount via Patreon with a minimum of US$1.00 required which is then deducted monthly. Patreon takes a cut from the payment and the payment processor takes a bite further which the content creator has to carry.

But with the changes Patreon made to its fees policy, content creators have been starting to lose supporters. What the new fees are is that they are passing on the costs such as processing to the supporters. By December 18, the new service fee is 2.9 percent plus 35 cents per new pledge and on January 1 for existing pledges. This takes the burden off the content creators and passes it on to their supporters.

This actually sounds good for the content creators, as the take home pay will be bigger. But with the supporters having to think twice of paying a bit extra, they’d started to close their wallets, figuratively.

As explained by Swapna Krishna of Endgaget:

Now, this may not seem like a lot, but from anecdotal and personal experience, $1 pledges make up the backbone of Patreon. Generally speaking, people have a limited amount they're able to pledge, and rather than send $10 to one thing, they will often send $1 to 10 different projects they want to support. This new fee structure will wreak havoc on that system. Every $1 pledge will cost patrons $1.38 under this new model. Small donors are, in essence, going to pay 38 percent more under this new system. This change incentivizes bigger individual pledges. One $10 pledge will now cost a supporter $10.64 per month, while ten $1 pledges will be $13.80. This change will gut the $1, and perhaps the $5, economy on Patreon.

Patreon clarified this new change by saying that it is a better process as compared to the old one as it was said to confusing, getting more support tickets due to the confusion. Still, the backlash is something for content creators as Gizmodo and Engadget have been reporting about content creators losing their supporters with the changes. We do not know if the airsoft content creators have totally left Patreon before, but with the changes, they might just think twice on depending on the service for their revenues.

Perhaps the exodus is brought about by the confusion in the fee changes and will eventually result into what Patreon promised, a bigger take home pay for the content creators. Supporters may just realize that they too will lose the entertainment they get by supporting the content creator and may just shell out a bit more to cover the fees. So if the reaction is harsh, let’s find out how Patreon rides this out until the new policy becomes effective later this month.