Crowdfunding played a part, but there's also the vision and the plan to attain that vision, as well as the community behind the crowdfunding and dedication to quality. My employer is employee-owned, and so it shares a lot of values with Larian and were successful without needing to be publicly traded. It really is down to core values and how well those values are upheld internally, money is just a means to an end.
I rarely posted on Reddit, mostly because I would try to find a conversation already in progress instead of making my own post. Also, my posts rarely caught that much traction. I commented a lot more frequently, several times a week. I'm still fairly infrequent, mostly because in my early internet years I posted A LOT of cringe on Facebook/Myspace so I tend to be a little more measured in my internet footprint now.