The New York Times has added Wordle to its collection of games. The Times PR team writes that the company acquired Wordle for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures. Furthermore, the company promises to keep the game free and unchanged.
Brooklyn software engineer Josh Wardle released the game in October 2021. Wordle gives players six tries to guess a five-letter mystery word every day. According to the Times, 90 people played the game on November 1. Nearly two months later, 300,000 people played it. Now, the puzzle has millions of daily players.
“If you’ve followed along with the story of Wordle, you’ll know that New York Times Games play a big part in its origins, and so this step feels very natural to me. I’ve long admired The Times’s approach to the quality of their games and the respect with which they treat their players. Their values are aligned with mine on these matters and I’m thrilled that they will be stewards of the game moving forward.”
Wordle creator Josh Wardle
The Times has a long legacy in gaming. The launch of The Crossword occurred in 1942. In 2014, the Times introduced The Mini crossword, followed by Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles and Vertex. The media company says their games were played more than 500 million times in 2021, and in December, they reached one million Games subscriptions.
According to Google, Wordle’s popularity skyrocketed right after the holidays.
In 2021, The New York Times saw significant increases in subscribers to its games, cooking and audio products. For publishers, revenue and eyeballs from new products becomes more important as interest in political news wanes.
