New York Times Buys Hit Word Game Wordle — For A Price 'In The Low Seven Figures’

The very popular word game, created by techie Josh Wardle, gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word. Only one word is released every day on a website, and the game has no app. 

Wordle was launched in October 2021 | Photo: Getty

New Delhi: Wordle, the runaway hit in the world of word games, has a new owner — The New York Times Company. The Times announced the acquisition on Monday.  

The very popular word game, created by techie Josh Wardle, gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word. Just one word is released every day on a website, and the game has no app. 

Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, had initially created Wordle for his partner, a word game enthusiast, it was reported earlier.   

The game was bought for a price “in the low seven figures”, the NYT report said, adding that it would initially remain free to players.

Wordle first appeared in October, and it had 90 users on November 1, according to the NYT report. This number grew to 3 lakh by the middle of that month, and the game is now played by millions every day.

The game has a feature that enables users to share their score on different social media platforms, showing rows of five coloured bricks with each row indicating one attempt. The number of rows visible shows how many attempts the user needed to guess the correct word.  

Words performance posts now flood the social media every day. 

The acquisition comes at a time when the company is looking to increase digital subscriptions, taking it up to 10 million by 2025.

“The Times remains focused on becoming the essential subscription for every English-speaking person seeking to understand and engage with the world,” the company said in a statement. “New York Times Games are a key part of that strategy.”