early in the game

At an early point in some situation, development, activity, etc. Likened to an athletic game or match. She became one of the most successful industry leaders early in the game, when the Internet was still just a nascent technology. It's still a little early in the game to call their latest product a flop, though initial sales figures are certainly not encouraging. Early in the game, I expected a very different outcome from this project than what we have seen.