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| The New York Times acquires the popular web game Wordle |
Josh Wardle, creator of the popular puzzle game Wordle, announced that he sold the game to The New York Times for an undisclosed price.
The deal allows the newspaper to include daily word puzzles in its word game collections. After the game has been moved to the New York Times website, it remains free for new and existing players.
Wardle said he is working with the newspaper to maintain current player earnings and back-to-back data as it moves to the New York Times.
As we strive to entertain more people who struggle with puzzles every day - especially during these trying times - we are excited to announce the acquisition of Wordle, an inspiring and beloved everyday word game that has become a cultural phenomenon.
However, the New York Times announcement leaves the company free to decide whether to put Wordle behind the firewall from now on.
Announcing the sale, Wordle explained that running the hugely popular game was a bit tricky, especially since he was the only one running the entire game.
“We are very excited to be the new home and proud guardians of this amazing game,” said Jonathan Knight, Managing Director of The New York Times. We are honored to help Josh Wardle bring creativity to more professionals over the coming months.
When the guessing game first appeared in the New York Times, it joined many other popular daily puzzles. Contains crossword puzzles, mini crosswords, scribbles, filled letters, tiles, and heads.
Wordle Joins The New York Times
Wordle was originally created by software developer Josh Wardle as a gift to his partner Palak Shah when the couple became involved in wordplay during the pandemic.
Wordle challenges players to guess a mysterious five-letter word six times. The game was publicly released in late 2020, but its popularity has grown exponentially since then.
The match was held on the 1st of November with the participation of 90 participants. Two months later, the game has reached 300,000 users and now has millions of players every day.
Thanks in part to emoji-based messaging, players can share what they're doing in their daily puzzles without harming others.
While Josh Wardle kept the game available as a free online trial, the app was quickly copied through multiple copies in an effort to cash in on the game's popularity in iPhone apps.
Apple was quick to ban apps from the App Store after reports of fraud. Wordle's growing success has also helped elevate the old, irrelevant wordplay.