>> Leveraging their long-standing relationships with Mark Thimmig and Hunter Decker of Esportz Network and Alex of Pixels Gaming, it allowed them to secure a global partner with strong media coverage and a publishing partner with a large network of over 50,000 streamers.
Also the 'less than $500' is misleading at best. I would understand not factoring in time if it was built in a weekend, but it was two guys for 8 months.
The team was frugal and did what they could on their own to arrive at success. Less than $500.00 came out of their bank account and the time was spent willingly.
I think it was all the elements of the article that led to success. For example, the partnerships would not have formed if the team had not created a great game in a timely fashion.
I suspect this is the primary reason for success.