Wordle, a popular word game, has joined the New York Times‘ portfolio of puzzle games after the acquisition was announced on Monday for “an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures’.
Since its release in October 2021, Wordle grew from 90 players in its first month to millions of players worldwide, challenging them to uncover a five-letter word in six guesses.
The game, developed by Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle, will remain free to play after moving to NYT. The developer is working with the team to ensure all the data, including wins and streaks, are preserved.
“I am incredibly pleased to announce that I’ve reached an agreement with The New York Times for them to take over Wordle going forward. If you’ve followed along with the story of Wordle, you’ll know that NYT games play a big part in its origins, and so this feels very natural to me,” said Josh Wordle in a Twitter update.
“I’ve long admired the NYT’s approach to 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.”
NYT Games were played by more than 500 million times in 2021 and amassed over a million subscribers in December 2021.
“We could not be more thrilled to become the new home and proud stewards of this magical game and are honoured 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.
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