Read about the failure of Cult of the Wind in this PC Gamer article - http://bit.ly/1tebgWK One crucial point that is being ignored is that this company made no effort to market their game at all, to anyone. If you go to YouTube you will only find 2 pages of videos about it, all from no-name channels with barely any views. We were never contacted with a key for the game after its exit from early access and none of the channels that I'm in regular contact with covered it either. For a multiplayer only title it is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL that you make an effort as a developer to get your game into the hands of Youtubers and Twitch streamers. It requires no budget, only time on your part, it is the most effective form of marketing you currently have, assuming your game isn't rubbish.

Failure to do this is most likely going to result in the failure of your product. You don't have a large marketing budget like say Ubisoft, who can get away with not sending copies to Youtubers, but even they do so anyway because they know not to would be to miss out on huge amounts of free exposure. I'd also suggest that Early Access is probably the wrong business model for a multiplayer only competitive game. Early Access causes serious community fatigue, which can mean that by the time your game comes out, people are bored of it and it's DOA. Early Access is not for everyone, it shouldn't be treated as free cash prior to launch, it comes with its own set of serious pitfalls for both the developer and the consumer.

Long story short, if you do not make the effort to get your game to Youtubers, you may very well be dooming your own game. Marketing doesn't require a billion dollar budget, but it does require you to get off your arse.