So 4 years in, and for the first time IndianNoob has been approved by Google Ads. Thanks to a new Privacy Policy, a new Review Policy, and a more streamlined site design, IndianNoob can now start earning its own revenue. Which would mean no more of those pesky rummy or gambling posts you would see in our blog roll from time to time.
It feels great, to be honest. Gives proof to the old adage, “Try until you succeed” or more appropriately, “Apply until you don’t get approved”. In a sense, it has been a constant boss battle, something which we have finally beaten after multiple attempts, and now it’s for the next level, 2018.
But before 2018 starts, here is a look back at 2017.
Views
Like we predicted last year, 2017 beat 2016 in terms of views hands down.
In fact, 2017 was so good that we had more views this year than all the earlier 3 combined.
While the multiplication jump of 9x that we had last year will probably remain a record for long. 2017 not only proved that last year wasn’t a fluke, it also proved that we have an even more promising 2018 to look forward to.
Reviews
Ayush has a very limited and orthodox scale of judging success, he likes to count the number of reviews that the site did each year as a measure of the site’s popularity. Well we are happy to announce that in 2017:
INDIANNOOB DID A TOTAL OF 68 REVIEWS THIS YEAR. ALMOST AS MUCH AS WE HAVE DONE OVER THE PAST 3 YEARS COMBINED.
What impressed Ayush the most though, that at times we were so busy, we actually had to turn down review copies. It broke our hearts, but we are humans after all. Why don’t you check out the ones we actually did get time to review.
Interviews
Perhaps the biggest shift that IndianNoob saw this year was the newfound attention that we got, not only on our site but also on social media.
Our Facebook followers jumped by 4 times.
Our Twitter added another 100 followers this year, and so did our Instagram account. Which meant that more and more people were talking about us. Which also meant that more and more people were talking to us.
This year we had our biggest year when it came to interviews. We talked to the minds behind Alien-H casting (Preet Arora), the brains behind Reaper Shop (Pratap Bhol), and the official Square Enix appointed community manager of the Tomb Raider franchise (Meagan Marie) among others.
We hope to continue these trends and bring you, even more, stories in the future. Both smaller and bigger ones.
Writers
We had more of a rotating roster this year, with more young guns entering the arena than any other year. With new blood, also came new focus, as we started a brand new section of e-sports (an area Ayush is indeed a noob in) thanks in main to Arkadyukti and Ishan. On the other hand, Prashant has been a breath of fresh air, bringing the prespective of a gaming fan turned amateur gaming writer.
Of course, the old pillars (relatively) of Pratyush, Sid, Saurabh, and Karan have held on, and have added even more variety to the site than ever. And finally, Armu who has been god-sent when it comes to putting in the hours. Our new review scorecards, our featured images and our increase in News articles output has definitely taken a boost ever since his arrival.
Recommended Reading
There is a long weekend before 2018 kicks in proper, and if you are snuggling at home scrolling through your phone (or computer), here are the top 5 articles, that we wouldn’t mind you reading. We believe they display the best of what IndianNoob stands for and would make for some great opiniated and yet balanced reading.
- How Nier Automata brought me back into Hack And Slash
- Why Bethesda Deserves a Break
- The New Dust 2, An Audit
- Nintendo And Their Kiddy Image
- Top 5 game devs in the last 5 years
Finally a shout-out to our families. Who have supported us through the myriad ways of our niche lifestyle, and letting us be writers and gamers at the same time (2 very low paying jobs/hobbies). Allwyn and the entire team at Games The Shop, who have played a big role in us being IndianNoob. Then there is Sadiq and the team at Nvidia India and Dell India, who boostrapped us into the world of hardware reviews. Finally a big thank to our foreign correspondents who let is un on all the scoop.
Of course IndianNoob would never be what it is without its viewers. Who are behind all those stats. We hope to get even more likes, even more followers, and even more views this year around. And hope to connect with you even more in 2018.