The New York Times has purchased viral word game Wordle

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: The New York Times has purchased the rights to daily word game Wordle, and it will be joining The Times’s portfolio of original puzzle games. Creator Josh Wardle launched the online word game late last year, which gives players six tries to guess a five-letter mystery word. Its popularity surged from 90 players on November 1 to over 300,000 players just two months later. Today, millions of people play the game daily.

Wardle in an interview with BBC Radio 4 in early January said he didn’t intend to monetize the game and didn’t want it to dominate players’ time like other successful games try to.

As professional wrestler “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase famously proclaimed, “Everyone has a price.”

The Times didn’t disclose the full price it paid for Wordle, but said it was in the low-seven figures.

An update on Wordle pic.twitter.com/TmHd0AIRLX

— Josh Wardle (@powerlanguish) January 31, 2022

The news outlet said that at the time Wordle moves to The Times, it will be free to play for new and existing players, adding that no changes will be made to its gameplay. It’s unclear how long that will remain the case, but one has to think that eventually, The Times is going to put it behind a paywall to monetize it.

The New York Times started running a crossword puzzle in its Sunday edition in 1942. It became a daily feature in 1950 and in 2014, the publication started adding new games to its library including Mini Crossword, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles and Vertex.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93212-new-york-times-has-purchased-viral-word-game.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Let me guess: they'll put NFTs on it because of course they will we can't have nice things without a corporation ruining it for everybody.

 

[Squid Surprise]

They already have a pay section with other puzzles... not hard to think that they will simply add Worlde to that in a few months or so...

 

[Dunkerton]

It was good while it lasted. Soon a dead game. Let's just move over to hellowordl instead, or any other alternative.

 

[pcnthuziast]

The New York Times is just another rag at this point. Who would have thought the majority of the media conglomerate in the US would adopt the business model of The National Enquirer. Fortunately, the utility legacy media once provided, is no longer necessary and only viable as a vehicle for advertising.

 

[Aceseven]

Nice move on the creator, he cashed in and can now just cruise through life.

 

[okie11]

I have never heard of this game before, sounds like a real time waster, looks like I'll be avoiding it in the future. thanks for the heads up.

 

[ghosty]

I have never heard of this game before, sounds like a real time waster, looks like I'll be avoiding it in the future. thanks for the heads up.

If you had actually read about it, you'd know that the main feature of the game is the fact you can only do 5 actions per day. Deliberately designed to *not* waste your time.

 

[pcnthuziast]

If you had actually read about it, you'd know that the main feature of the game is the fact you can only do 5 actions per day. Deliberately designed to *not* waste your time.

Completely subjective. Any duration can be considered a waste for any reason.

 

[isidraolds]

I have never heard of this Wordle game before, sounds like a real time waster, looks like I'll be avoiding it in the future. thanks for the heads up.

I love Wordle - and you can’t get tempted into spending too long on it, cos you can only play 1 game a day