The NYT said Wordle would remain free and that no changes would be made.
New York:
The New York Times announced Monday that it had bought Wordle, an event played by millions of people, just four months after the game exploded on the Internet, for “an undisclosed price in the low seven digits.”
Created by engineer Josh Wardle, the game involves guessing one five-letter word per day in just six attempts.
According to The New York Times, the game – which launched in October – only had 90 players in early November.
As of early January, there were more than 300,000 – and now millions of people play it daily, thanks to the ease of sharing spoiler-free results on social media.
“The game has done what very few games have done – it has captured our collective imagination and brought us all closer together,” Jonathan Knight, general manager of the New York Times Games, said in a statement.
“I have long admired The Times for the quality of their games and the way they treat their players with respect,” Wardle said in the statement.
“His values in these matters are aligned with mine and I am thrilled that he will be the game’s manager going forward.”
Wardle, a British resident of New York City, initially decided not to monetize the game with advertising or subscriptions before selling it to The New York Times.
The newspaper said the game would remain free and that no changes would be made.
The acquisition comes as The New York Times continues to diversify output, offering an exclusive subscription to crossword and other games that passed the one million subscriber mark in December.
Other products tied to the news include NYT cooking and audio platform Audum. Such products made up 11 per cent of the business in the first nine months of 2021.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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