Of course, upgrades only come on the paid side because they just want money! The most amusing thing is that the game is who knows how old and there will only be one update that we have had to wait a month for. Too much I've seen nowadays here on Patreon where you just want money and in the worst case scenario the games are updated every 3 months and there will be a small update even if paid money. Homecoming-Morenatsu revisited one example where I last received an update last August last year! Don't make ten games at the same time if you want to make money from these games! In my opinion, this should change
Do you not know how the patreon development model works? the trade-off for receiving Patron funding is releasing the game for free once it's finished there are examples of very well-known VNs being developed this way, echo, arches, adastra, minotaur hotel, extracurricular activities, Etc. If he wanted to make a paid game it should be able to be paid for on the itch.io page otherwise you're basically paying a subscription have access to the game and paying way more money than you otherwise would have if you just bought it like any other Early Access game which is greedy