Locking previously freely available content behind a $6 paywall is abhorrent. If you didn't add enough content to the steam release to justify the price tag when it was already available for pay what you want here, then you should've either not done a paid steam release, or you should have spent more time to add stuff worthy of the price tag.
I hope you enjoy whatever additional money you get from this, because at least personally I'm refunding my steam purchase directly due to this decision
I'm not sure if I'd call it abhorrent--most people charge for their work, after all--but admittedly changing the pay what you want system wasn't what I'd have preferred, either. For accessibility reasons, mainly; the idea of people getting emotionally attached to my stuff being free was more of a surprise.
Money isn't a big decider for me, really. What I got excited by was people in the industry thinking my work was good enough to be advertised as a proper game and sold on Steam. Working with a publisher is a big step for my dream of working as a solo game dev.
I'm not proud of relenting to the publisher's request to increase the itch price for at least the Steam launch to help them succeed. I did end up doing so though, and you can certainly call me spineless for that.
