Wordle, the Browser-Based Word-Guessing Game, Has Been Bought by New York Times for a ‘Low Seven Figures’ Sum

Wordle just got acquired by The New York Times for a decent chunk of change, and the publication has plans for the word-guessing game.

Wordle to Remain Initially Free, According to the Agreement

Jonathan Knight, general manager for The New York Times Games, confirmed the sale below.

“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. 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 the user experience.”

Josh Wardle was the brains behind Wordle and is a software engineer in Brooklyn who released the game to the public on October 2021. It can be played on your browser and is free, at least for now. The game exploded in popularity with millions of daily players, and The New York Times intends on capitalizing on this obsession. The publication states that the game will initially be free for players, at least for now, likely because it wants the player base to reach a massive figure. Wardle has provided the update on Wordle below, stating that players’ wins and streaks will be preserved.

An update on Wordle pic.twitter.com/TmHd0AIRLX

— Josh Wardle (@powerlanguish) January 31, 2022

It cannot be estimated if monetizing Wordle in the future will decrease the player base, because someone else can simply replicate the idea and make it free-to-play for potentially millions. For the time being, The New York Times does not want things to run wild, but it does aim to grow digital subscriptions to 10 million by 2025. Acquiring something as popular as Wordle may do the trick, but it is too early to tell.

The post Wordle, the Browser-Based Word-Guessing Game, Has Been Bought by New York Times for a ‘Low Seven Figures’ Sum by Omar Sohail appeared first on Wccftech.