Wordle, a daily word game that has been creating buzz on the internet, has been acquired by The New York Times for an undisclosed price in “the low-seven figures.”
“As The Times looks to entertain more solvers with puzzles every day — especially during these anxious times — we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve acquired Wordle, the stimulating and wildly popular daily word game that has become a cultural phenomenon,” The Times said in an official release.
With this, Wordle will now be a part of the New York Times Games portfolio, which includes the Crossword launched in 1942 and the The Mini crossword introduced in 2014, followed by Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles and Vertex.
Wordle’s rules are simple. Players get a five letter word each day that they have to guess by the letter. They need to guess the letter by entering characters in boxes. Players can see the letters they got right or wrong through colour coding. For each right letter in the right place, the box will turn green. For a correct letter in the wrong position, the box will turn yellow. For incorrect letters that are not part of the day’s word, the box will show grey. Players have six tries to get the five-letter secret word of the day right.
Wordle was launched for the public by Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn in October 2021.
Players have been loving the game, sharing their spoiler-free scores on social media, primarily Twitter, after Wardle introduced a feature that allows players to share their results online in mid-December 2021.
Users have been sharing their results on Twitter, where one can see how many guesses a player took, or the letters that they got wrong or right. Players can access only one puzzle a day. They must wait for the next day after finishing the day’s puzzle. There is no dedicated app for the game. The simple word guessing game can be played through a no-frills, ad-free website.
Wordle on the website
With the acquires, Wordle will now be moved to the NYT site.
“The Times remains focussed on becoming an essential subscription for every English-speaking person seeking to understand and engage with the world. New York Times Games are a key part of that strategy. Our games already provide original, high-quality content and experiences every single day,” it said in the release.
“Wordle will now play a part in that daily experience, giving millions more people around the world another reason to turn to The Times to meet their daily news and life needs. Wordle exploded in popularity and has rapidly become a daily obsession for solvers,” it said.
The game was played by 90 people on November 1. Nearly two months later, the number increased to 3,00,000 people. The puzzle now has “millions of daily players,” as per the announcement.
“If you’re like me, you probably wake up every morning thinking about Wordle, and savoring those precious moments of discovery, surprise and accomplishment. The game has done what so few games have done: It has captured our collective imagination, and brought us all a little closer together. We could not be more thrilled to become the new home and proud stewards of this magical game, and are honored to help bring Josh Wardle’s cherished creation to more solvers in the months ahead,” said Jonathan Knight, General Manager for The New York Times Games.
“As part of our portfolio of games, Wordle will have an exciting future with the help of a team of talented engineers, designers, editors and more, furthering user experience,” added Knight.
Wardle said, “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’ approach to the quality of games and the respect with which they treat 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 will remain free to play for new and existing players for now as it is moved to The New York Times, no changes will be made to its gameplay, as per the announcement.