[News] Another Way Forward~!

Hey y’all,

This was supposed to come out earlier this month, but I wanted to make sure to do all my homework. It’s been an insane month navigating what has been a labyrinth of ever changing issues and problems. 

Everyday there is something new that is done that makes us question if anything we’re doing will still be possible in a few months time. 

With the limited time we have each week and the normal needs of production, plus all of the stress on top. The impact that it is having on our ability to focus, and on our health, has not been great.

And with recent tragic events, more is still to come and it’s likely changes are going to happen much faster.

It has been an overwhelming amount of information to become aware of, process and to not get too emotional over. But one thing is clear, everything happening in the world is not the destination, it’s the direction, and it’s not hard to not see where this is all going.

Our focus during the last month has been split, between making progress and finding a way to keep existing. And after much deliberation, everyone on the team is in agreement. 

Everything we’re doing has to change.

This past month and a bit, we’ve been working on a strategy to navigate many of the issues that we’re facing. It has been an extreme exercise in trying to stabilize what has been some of the shakiest shit we’ve ever had to deal with. 

And given what we’ve learned, the way forwards isn’t always the direction we’re going in and sticking to it will be a nightmare.

That being said, we’re making a few changes about how we’ll be running our Patreon, to start making moves to something more stable.

The plan is simple. 

• To give ourselves some degree of control over our futures.

• Alleviate the pressure coming from the world by managing our time.

• Provide more choices to fans and Patrons.

• And find a better way to do what we love.

How are we going to do that?

Let’s start here.

(We've included a TLDR at the bottom, but if you do have the time please read the whole post for all the details.)

The Problem

The only thing we can control is our time, and how we use it. If our attention is divided and we allow others to control it, we lose.

It is likely there will be more global issues with payment processing, laws and censorship related to adult content, which will only be accelerated by the tragic events of the past few weeks.

The risks of being de-platformed, and even de-banked, are always increasing, which has even further reaching implications that could indirectly affect individual team members.

All this in turn has an impact on what we can make, and how we’re making it. It disrupts plans in motion, defocuses our efforts, and damages our health with high levels of stress which we need to manage. 

The result of which is delays in creating our work, releasing content, and keeping up with our own plans. And with these issues burning in the back of our mind, every post, release or announcement becomes a potential minefield of promises we can’t keep, or plans failing halfway through.

This then filters down to our fans and Patrons through real reputational damage because of a lack of content. 

This all eats away at what we have, who we are, and what we wish to do. 

Repeat this pattern over and over, and it becomes a battle of attrition we know we are going to lose. And we know it’s only going to get worse from here on out.

We’ve all gone to hospital at some point or another, due to game development, for less. And not over doing it at this time, has been a tough one to balance (hence delays).

In other words, this situation is actually, totally, FUBAR.

The Solution

So how are we going to fix this?

By moving away from subscriptions and tiered rewards. And taking advantage of features that only became available to us this year, using purchasable products, collections and posts, as a starting point.

This doesn’t eliminate the current risks, but it does give us more time to navigate the high stress problems and watch issues unfold. And it does help us manage our time to produce work and focus on our health more effectively. 

It also means we can provide clearer options to Patreons. You can pay for the content you want, when it’s ready, and when you want it without the risks of being impacted by delays or poorly timed releases, or even changes in local laws and regulations related to you.

Basically, Content Drops.

This does mean that the time between releases will be longer, but it also means we can dedicate time to investigate, prepare, promote and deliver what we create, without rushing or cutting corners. Improving the overall quality of each release.

For example, full releases of Chapters, instead of multi-part Chapter releases. Promotional releases to itch.io. And additional works related to releases (i.e Pin Ups, Cutscenes).

The Downsides

This will impact how we can financially support our projects and payment processes can still fuck this all up. 

New laws and regulations related to censorship and privacy are also likely to make this even harder.

Meaning… 

More platforms, including Patreon, may need to capitulate to the new laws, regulations, and imposed limits from payment processes, similar to past events. 

This also has the potential to limit our ability to promote on social media, which many of the new laws and regulations are likely to impact.

If that does happen, don’t blame them. The situation right now is incredibly unstable, and the repercussions platforms face are severe. Even Steam has had to cave in to this.

BUT…

What we get back in return is more control over our time and how we spend it, as all this plays out. Giving us time to evaluate, and find better ways forward.

If you’d like to know more check out this video from Bellular News, who gives a good overview on the gamer side of things. It doesn’t cover everything, but it covers most of the issues currently in play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECpWyMuQZBI

And That’s NOT It!

We have additional plans we are working on, but we won’t be going into them in detail here. The most we want to say is that it’s going to be a long journey around, and everything we are doing now is just the first step.

It’s not ideal, but nothing about this situation is ideal.

At the end of this month, we’ll be removing our rewards tiers, and focusing on purchasable content.

We will be leaving one subscription tier for tips and for those who’d prefer to support us that way. But please be aware, that there won’t be any exclusive benefits related to rewards tiers.

This also ensures that any small news posts that do contain adult content within, can still be shared when we need to, as part of keeping within Patreon’s content guidelines.

We’re making these changes now because we’re anticipating further disruptions within adult content creation over the coming weeks and months. 

So we’re setting ourselves in a position where we have room to move, and have more control for us, and for fans and Patrons, over what you want and how you want to support us.

And if worse comes to worse, we’re in a position where we can manage the impact, and have a path forward that still exists.

TLDR;

• Everything is on fire.

• More choice for Patrons and fans through paid posts, collections and releases.

• Removing all patron tiers and rewards, leaving one for tips only.

• Longer development times for full chapter releases.

• Expect lots of changes to laws, regulation and payment processors over the coming months.

• Maybe we won’t die.

And That’s It!

If you got through all that. Thank you. 

Over the years, all the options we once had, have slowly been knocked out. We’ve had many plans we’ve worked on fail before we even kicked them out the door. But we’ve always had something to fall back to.

This is an incredibly frustrating and complicated time for adult content creators, especially the small ones on fringes like us. 

If we’re going to be honest. We don’t know if this is going to work. But we feel if we do nothing, when our intuition is telling us otherwise, it would only lead us to an outcome nobody wants.

And being as small as we are, making these changes now is less risky then pretending nothing is going to happen, and crying victim later.

Either way, we hope y’all understand and we appreciate your patients and support in what has been an insane month.

Please take care of yourselves. And if you have any comments or questions, please let us know below and we’ll get back to you.

~ Zuri Sama & The Zuripai Team 💜