We have officially surpassed $5,000 in player donations to our Patreon page!
Roughly 2 years ago, I killed the old VIP accounts to officially put an end to any form of pay-to-win, no matter how slight. From the VIP-hotlist (bookmark) feature to paid-drafting, we adopted a new stance that all players should enjoy the game equally.
It was a risky move, because paid-drafting in particular was historically our most successful incentive for donations. Making it free for everybody felt a bit like throwing away money.
I’m happy to say however, that this decision has been an undeniable success in not only making the game more fair and enjoyable, but also in increasing funding generally.
How it all breaks down
(credit to whoever made this chart. it’s like they can read my mind!)
Here’s a rough breakdown of what it takes to run Imperial Conflict every month:
- game servers and backups: $85 average
- non-game servers, backups, and services (forums, wiki, blog, merch-store): $50
- soundcloud for the podcast: $12
- domain + domain management services: $35
- testing ads on google, facebook, and reddit: $15
- email marketing services: $135
- misc business/legal costs: $75
Rough Total: $407, or about $9,768 over 2 years.
I’ve said for awhile that our operational costs are covered, but that’s not quite accurate anymore. We’ve grown enough since the ownership transfer, and the costs involved have grown to match.
I’m doing what I can to minimize costs, but you can see how important our Patreon subscribers are!
Because of you wonderful @patrons, this cost was cut in half. Please, give yourself some kudos. You are literally helping keep Imperial Conflict alive. 
A Thank You
To celebrate, I’m moving the last of our tiered Patreon rewards down to the $1 level: custom galaxies.
It used to be that the number of players in your custom galaxies were limited by your subscription tier. That restriction is being removed. As of now, any Patreon subscriber of any amount can create a custom game with an unlimited amount of players.
I look forward to seeing what you all come up with. 
If this interests you, send me a forum PM and we’ll get you started.
The Next Funding Milestone
We’re at 51 Patreon subs as I write this, and I’m gonna be busting my ass to get that to 100 by the end of this year. My goal for the end of 2019 is to have doubled our current sub count and hopefully get us to a place where IC can turn a profit, even if only a tiny one.
I’ve been running the show here for almost 3 years now, and still have my sights on running Imperial Conflict full time. I don’t plan for IC to make me rich or anything, but if it can pay my rent and bills, I can make it my day job and focus on restoring us to our former glory.
Imperial Conflict is more than just a game. It’s a community. It’s our community, and the best is still ahead of us.
Time for The Pitch
How much money do you spend on music, video games, and movies? What about food and drink?
By comparison, how much value has Imperial Conflict provided for you?
We’re always going to be free to play, but please do consider supporting our development. Some players have donated $100, and others have donated $1.
Donate what you want. 
You can become a Patreon Subscriber here. If you would prefer to make a 1-time donation, you can make a donation via PayPal here.
Thank you again to our existing Patreon subs. 
Onward and upward we go!
We’re on one of their larger plans.