I wonder if it is physically possible, nowadays, to just quietly launch a game without building up the necessary hype beforehand. In Hello Game's case, the community is so burned by the company that they are immediately distrustful when they announce something new (see the other comments, for example). What would have happened if they had just put it on the steam store? "Here's what we made, see for yourself if it's good".

Use the money saved from minimal marketing to build a better game. Heck, they'd get a lot of viral marketing for free anyway from the media companies falling over themselves to cover the surprising game release.