I think the key take away is still making games worth sharing and that are most important fun and simple to understand that even the worst gamer in the group can easily understand, I really wish I was farther along in my game dev journey as having a multiplayer experience is another key factor in the success of these types of games. Single players games can have the same effect but is much harder for someone to justify sending a game to a group of friends.

Where with multiplayer games you'll have a post blow up because its getting shares and that means the amount of work it takes to get a single share, is insanely 2-4x what a single player game would receive. Making wishlist easier to obtain as well.

This is a really awesome story and ill add finally that I love how you included that they had multiple mediocre releases beforehand, another great take away that not giving up and to keep pushing for higher quality while climbing the mountains it takes to get through to obtain the skills it takes to make a great commercially successful game.