@beardalaxy That or you put out DLC often. I think it only matters if you put out frequent updates, but I know some developers don't want their games spoiled, even a little bit, and there are people who don't like the idea of paywalled dev-blogs or forums (though I don't think you are required to put out rewards for donors).

Currently, I see people using Patreon or Liberapay for games that get frequent updates ("endless games" like MMOs or sandbox games) and they are for games themselves, not studios. Most open-source games are like that. They tend to be endless games that justify updates after release and are developed by a team of people who solely work on that project (individuals may work on other projects but the team itself is dedicated to that one project).

But back to putting out games often. Now that I think about it, frequency could be a problem, and it could limit what kind of games you could make, unless your team is big enough to split into multiple projects simultaneously. But think of it this way, in the video, music, podcast, and webcomic world, the common criticism of crowd-tipping services like Patreon is that it is considered "privatized welfare" in that people can go months without releasing new content. That's also because people expect frequent content as it is much easier to make. I'm pretty sure people can cut game developers some slack because it takes much more effort. Just keep people updated so they know that their money is not going to waste.

Anyway, I brought this up because I've noticed people's ethics about piracy changing over the years and even indie developers being okay with people pirating their games while still selling them on storefronts. There are going to be people who will always prefer to play your game for free no-matter what and purchases are just a one-time thing. I think that crowd-tipping could be a way to guarantee a regular income for game studios.