Statement: Why FDG stopped Toucharcade Patreon support

Honestly, the Touch Arcade staff's responses to this have pushed my opinion of this site downward. Not professional at all, guys.

 

FDG gave themselves away with this line, they certainly hold grudges about reviews, and any claim that this is not retaliation is laughable.

Gaming journalism has relied on industry support throughout its history. Appearances of conflicts are unavoidable, but are countered with a strong conflict of interest policy and a reputation for fair reviews developed over time. Supporting TouchArcade through Patreon or ads that FDG says don't pay off is a distinction without a difference. What it boils down to is if the mobile gaming community broadly, and developers in particular, want to support the news and forums provided by TouchArcade or not--and do so without expecting quid pro quo ego stroking and favorable reviews.

 

what you also miss is that we've been struggling with the thought of canceling our patreon for at least 2 months - and in no way because of review scores.

opinions change with experience. we also thought being part of the patreon part would be a great exposure for our games and us, but we never really felt comfortable with these "forced" articles. we tried to talk to TA about this, but we've been ignored (now you can argue if it's cool to be ignored in general and especially if you pay 1.000 bucks a month and want to help improve things as you believe in them).

i also invite you to go check out the patreon rewards TA offers. as you can see, the higher tiers are clearly aimed at devs & pubs (the top tier at 10k$ is even aimed at apple only, and yet apple doesn't support TA financially although their games department reads this site). here's the overview for reference:
https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?rid=237267&u=826530

we don't hate TA, we don't have problems with anybody at TA, we're not offended by the Venture Kid review, we're not "crying toddlers" as some dude noted on kotaku, we just don't feel comfortable supporting press this way. not being a patreon anymore gives TA more freedom to write about us and our games in an unbiased way, without disclaimers and other thoughts.

again, we encourage EVERY regular reader to support TA, as mobile space definitely needs sites like this one. readers should directly support with their money. devs, pubs and studios with ads and established forms of sponsoring, not a flat rate financial support with perks in return that may lead to conflicts.

probably the only good way for companies to support TA would be through anonymous patreons.

 

$1000 a month for someone's Patreon is a really bad use of an indy devs advertising dollars, especially if it doesn't buy you an ad.

I guess it's up for debate how valuable the "thank you" is as advertising. My guess is that it would be not worth $1000.

I don't think most iOS devs could afford an extra $1000 a month anyway. You could've gone with "we can't afford it" as your reason for ending the patreon support and it probably would've been way less controversial.

 

FDG folks: thanks for the explanation. It makes sense, and I understand the decision. It also takes courage to do it, regardless of timing, especially disclosing this so openly. It's unfortunate this is how it ended up, but it's completely understandable. Keep doing good games!

TA folks : same goes for you. Keep doing the good work you've been doing. No point in crying over spilled milk, especially in public. It doesn't do anyone any favors. Nor does it do you any favors trying to blame FDG for pulling back. What image does that convey to other potential future large patrons? Do you think that anyone will be a patron forever? If not, will you also complain when the next one goes away?

Think about it. You wouldn't do the same is it was a large advertising sponsor. You'd run after a new one, and be thankful that you had one for a period in the first place.

Just saying: be thankful for what you had and have, and don't blame others for what you (think you) won't have.

I'm with ZeroVoid on this one. I understand where you all are coming from, but let's keep it civil and thankful. And keep up the good work everyone.

My 2 cents.

 

To FDG:

This game is outstanding. I've been playing a lot of NES games lately and playing this game refreshed my sense of iOS gaming. I agree that the review Carter wrote was out of touch. It really didn't feel like he played the whole game, which I think hinders his review. Hold your head high and keep making great games. Really enjoyed Slayin' as well.

To TA:

Some of those comments from you guys to FDG are toxic. Shaun, to say something negative, and then add an edit to say "oh sorry that was snarky" is pretty unprofessional. It all comes from the top...Eli has been pretty passive aggressive to commenters on this site as well. I'll probably get banned for saying this, because TA staff hands out bans for people that simply disagree with their practices. That's fine. I'm not losing out. This site used to be really cool, but it's kind of fallen from grace at this point. I used to think only Eli would back talk to commenters, but I see that it's a habit of all the staff. You don't see that on sites like Gamespot or IGN. Just as a heads up, I have no interest in FDG. I'm just a standard user, saying my piece. Been visiting your site for years and I must say, the quality has been seeing a decline. This used to be a really positive, up beat place. Now it's the pits. I know you guys don't value the opinion of a single user, as is evidenced when you either silence nay sayers with a ban or get catty with them in the forums and comments. TA's continued usage doesn't depend on where you get your money. It depends on how you bond with your users, and you kind of suck with that. Good luck with your site. I hope it is able to climb back up to what it once was: a great, up beat, positive and fun place. I truly hope you guys can hang on, because iOS needs coverage and while you manage the best coverage, don't let it get your heads so much. Peace.

-Andrew

 

I was genuinely apologizing, goggles. FDG accepted my apology. I edited the posts so my accusation wouldn't be sitting there to be taken out of context. Like I said, I'm truly sorry for jumping to the worst conclusion and letting my emotions get the better of me. I've had bad experiences at past companies, but that's not a good excuse.

I'm also sorry you feel the atmosphere here has become bad. I try to keep my end of things upbeat, even with all the stuff stressing me out on a daily basis that I generally don't let any of you see. I'm noticing that things tend to slip when I interact too much with the community, so I'm probably going to pull back on that since it's causing trouble and bad feelings all around. I'll only be in the Reload Club thread from now on. My little web, so to speak.

As for moderation comments, I have no part in any of that, so I can't speak to it.