what factors do you think contributed?
Years ago, I've created Crime Buster and Contra : Locked 'n' Loaded and some youtubers play them. I believe this is because there weren't many youtubers that time and fan games could easily get noticed.
However, when I've decided to create original IPs, I had to ask youtubers who offer to play games for free in their channel. There were plenty of them a decade ago but recently it's so rare to find such youtubers.
Who played it and are they very open to playing smaller, less popular games?
For now, I'll have to wait for youtubers who ask for games to be played for their channel.