Two years ago, I bought this domain with the expectation of maybe storing some text files on it. When I wrapped up development on another site a few months later, I decided to give creating a proper Niche Barrier site a go.
What the site looked like two weeks before it went live, versus now.
Soon after launching it, an article was written about the PS5's increase in software sales that cited my site. The (then preliminary) top 100 of 2022 appeared to contain valuable software and hardware estimates. That was cool to see.
In June, Niche Barrier received a record number of visitors because Final Fantasy XVI accelerated in COMG! pre-orders. This news even got onto yahoo.com, which is wild to think about for a site that was then 6 months old.
The addition of Amazon sales tracking was also well received and rounded out the portfolio of the site.
Here are some interesting statistics:
- by location, most traffic comes from the United States (29%), followed by the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Japan.
- the most popular browser is Google Chrome (about 60% of visitors use it)
- the most visited game pages are FFXVI, Zelda TotK, Pikmin 4, FFXV and Pokemon S/V
- the least visited page is the list of new releases
The Future
During 2023 I kept rolling out changes and new features to the site, like how you can compare games or pre-orders.
To celebrate one year of the new site, I gave the site a visual overhaul and implemented something new: you can now begin comparing games from the game pages. There's an "Add to Comparison" button that when pressed, pops up a window. When you go to another game page and add that game, you'll have two games in your window and you can click on "Compare". That brings you to a comparison of the two games.
This is neat because the window follows you around as you browse Niche Barrier. Try it out!
So what's in store for 2024?
There's a lot to look forward to in terms of new games, possible console launches (!) and unexpected announcements. How will these affect the market? What will Amazon sales tell us?
I'm still working on two new features that I really want to get out. One is something you've seen on an old (and forgotten?) site, the other is something that should remedy an issue when it comes to browsing the database efficiently.
Here's to a possibly very exciting 2024!
