Yea. There's more than one way to fund the game. They just have to be willing to try to improve.

It's also worth noting that it's fairly likely that some team members are working part time because they love the game, while others may be working full time. This is still a paid job for them, but since certain GMs are located internationally the payments they receive may be worth more.

Next, we have 7 current GMs. I don't believe GMs work in this way, but for example: if every GM works every day, their shift would be at around 4 hours a day. That's a part-time shift, and since you can collaborate with your fellow GMs worldwide, it means you can likely get another part-time job in, or depending on work even another full time job.

As someone working in customer service currently (granted not in games), 24 hour coverage isn't mandatory, so this frees up even more time.

Purely speaking from a GM perspective since we don't have direct dev team numbers to work with (the credits list current and legacy members, whereas the game masters list mentions who is "retired"), this means that Grey Havens does have the necessary behind-the-scenes work figured out.

Speaking from a personal perspective, I believe Grey Havens is doing a wonderful job at keeping the game alive while also doing some minor experiments with the game (the lockdown changes have been fun to see, and bringing sleep back was great along with all the QoL updates), but it definitely feels like certain elements are lacking.

I know it's never been their MO to really talk to players about an update before it comes out, but the rare times they did (mostly when Nick was still around) it got the whole community buzzing and excited. I'm also fairly certain that the dedicated community manager(s) for Spiral Knights especially retired (RIP Eurydice), and so that combined with a lack of insight to game updates has led to the community feeling a bit rejected despite those still working on the game working really hard on what we do get.

As such, I don't believe money is the largest factor here. Prize boxes may not encourage "growth", however Three Rings (and I'd hope Grey Havens) had a philosophy to keep things calm and create an environment that everyone wants to come to work to be in, not be pushing deadlines or crunch time. Heck, Nick's even confirmed that crunch time was never mandatory for Three Rings staff, and he's brought that concept to Monomi Park as well.

So basically, what I'm getting at is that I don't agree that Grey Havens is being "held hostage" by their monetary model. The model allows them to continue working on the game where they see fit, even if it's not something we directly and immediately see as valuable.
What is lacking is an engaging community manager and from what I can tell, a project lead. A lack of those two makes the game's direction feel aimless for end-game players, and the community feel isolated from the developers/game that they care about.

If Grey Havens had more official and regular interactions with the community, especially where they say what they're up to, that would go miles to making everyone feel accounted for.

It’s no secret that GH isn’t updating the game. IMO it’s either bc they don’t have enough money or they don’t see it profitable. Maybe both? Either way, it’s irrefutable that the player base still loves this game and wants to see it succeed.

Soo... can GH please make a Go Fund Me? Also, I saw some comments saying GH can’t speak about such topics. As far as I know, it’s their game, so can’t they say whatever they want? Lol pls explain