The New York Times announced on Monday, that it has bought Wordle, the online word puzzle game, for an undisclosed seven-figure sum. Created by software engineer Josh Wardle, the game was released last October and now has millions of players.
In a statement, the NYT said that the game will join the New York Times Games’ portfolio of original, engaging puzzle games, which already include The Mini crossword, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles, and Vertex.
The players of Wordle have six attempts to guess a five-letter, mystery word. As per NYT, the game will initially remain free to new and existing players. However, the news agency also raised concerns that the game may eventually go behind a paywall.
Talking about the acquirement, 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’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.”
The software engineer also wrote in a statement on Twitter, “This step feels very natural to me.” The game, which initially only had 90 people playing it, within two months saw the number growing to 300,000 after people began sharing their scores on social media.
While Twitter users congratulated Wardle over the news, several expressed disappointment over the game going behind a paywall.
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Writer Charlotte Clymer took to Twitter and wrote, “NYT buying Wordle is the puzzle equivalent of an out-of-touch politician instantly killing the appeal of a pop culture thing.” She wrote in another tweet, “You can be happy for Mr. Wordle getting a nice payday (which really is quite nice and good for him) and also lament that this kinda sucks. Let’s be real.”
Director Julie Cohen wrote, “How long do you think the New York Times will keep Wordle free to non-subscribers? I’ll give you 6 guesses.”
Another Twitter user wrote, “I have never seen Twitter as immediately mad as it is right now about the NYT wordle buyout. the NYT took one nice and simple thing that a lot of people really liked, a dumb bit of fun in our exhaustingly dark times, and implied that they’ll stick it behind a paywall. exhausting.”