A Super Thank You to the Fans – Past, Present and Future (Patreon)

First and foremost, this is a one-time thing. We want that to be as clear as possible. Releases after Supergirl will be patron-only as per usual. 

That being said, we have decided to release the Supergirl update for free. Patrons and non-patrons alike will have access to the same version of the game when it is updated on September 30th. For the first time in four years, both the patron and public builds will be simultaneously up-to-date on the latest version. 

A Thank You to All Our Fans

Never in a million years, let along four, did we think we would get to a point like this. When Smoke and SR7 started up years ago they were down on their luck – having recently lost most of their life savings – and were really just looking for something to distract them from their circumstances at the time. 

Four years later, Gunsmoke Games has had over 13,000 unique patrons and tens of thousands of fans play Bend or Break and Something Unlimited. GG has grown to a point where we can actually start expanding and reasonably hiring people to better ourselves and our products. We can see a promising light at the end of the tunnel, albeit a very far and faint light, to one day become a major development studio that creates NSFW and non-NSFW gaming experiences people never thought possible. 

This has only been made possible because of the fans, both patron and non-patron alike. So, in an effort to show our thanks rather than just say it, we’ve decided to offer the Supergirl update to everyone for free from Day 1. 

We know how much our fans are hotly anticipating Supergirl and Galatea, and we know we’re about to go through a lot of changes and shifts as we near the Rebuild transition, so we figured this would be a great update to do this with that people could really appreciate. 

Why Not Remain Free?

You can’t expect someone to love you if you don’t even love yourself. Similarly, you can’t expect people to value what you do if you don’t value it yourself. However, like any reasonably-minded business, we’re always open to new business models and ideas.  

Recently, we ran our end of year survey which had a question asking our patrons how they would feel if we made updates completely free. The majority said they would not cancel or even lower their pledges. 

With all of that information in mind, this is the conclusion we ultimately came to: 

We have much bigger aspirations outside of Patreon. With 20 – 30+ scenes being added each update and over 4 years of content on top of that – providing one of the biggest Western NSFW gaming experiences there currently is – we don’t believe $5 to play the latest update is a big ask, especially when we offer a public build that gets updated too. (I.e. all you have to do if you don’t want to pay is wait.)

We will not devalue our product or any of our products, and we refuse to be ashamed of being a business that’s looking to grow and expand. The only way we can reasonably do that is with funding. Our next major expenditure will most likely be bringing on an animator, but we’re not going to do that until we can offer at least a decent enough salary and take the time to find someone who’ll last and seek to grow with us. 

We know the financial side of this equation is really lost on a lot of people who just see the five-figure number, but we’re going to continue doing what we think is best for our company, customers and patrons. And we hope that the financial hit we take from this action isn’t lost on a lot of people, because it’s the only real way as a company we can think to sincerely show our appreciation. 

We hope everyone enjoys the Supergirl update and a big thank you to everyone who read this post thoroughly to the end,

Gunsmoke Games