The New York Times has just bought Wordle — what that means for you

The New York Times has only bought Wordle — what that means for you

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Today's Wordle word is… Coin, later on the viral sensation was sold to The New York Times for a reported seven-figure sum.

The buy completes an incredible story that saw the game spring seemingly from nowhere at the turn of the year to the point where it at present has more than one million daily players. It also represents a huge success for its sole developer, Josh Wardle, who created information technology for his partner but to see information technology become ubiquitous on Twitter and elsewhere over the past month.

Wordle screenshots — (Image credit: Wordle)

Wardle, who works at Reddit as an engineer, shared the news on Twitter and said that he was "thrilled" that The New York Times "will be the stewards of the game moving forward" and that "this footstep feels very natural to me."

"I've long admired the NYT's approach to their games and the respect with which they care for their players," he added, earlier confirming that "When the game moves to the NYT site it will be free to play for everyone and I am working with them to make sure your wins and streaks will be preserved."

In a statement, Jonathan Knight, general manager for The New York Times Games, said that Wordle had "captured our collective imagination, and brought united states all a piffling closer together."

"We could non 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," he said.

What does this mean for Wordle players?

One of the reasons for Wordle'south success has been the fact that information technology is free to play via a website and has no advertisements. There's no app, no in-app purchases and no endeavour to monetize its players — it's but an enjoyable way to pass the time each 24-hour interval. Although you tin play Wordle multiple times per day if y'all know how.

Information technology's hardly surprising, so, that news of the purchase was instantly greeted with a flurry of negativity on Twitter, with many people seemingly upset at the prospect of the game eventually moving backside a paywall or beingness besieged past ads.

"Does anyone here actually think the NYT paid millions for this to proceed it free?" read 1 tweet, with another claiming that this was the "beginning of the finish for Wordle." And there are many more than similar those.

But is that really likely? For starters, both Wardle and The New York Times have stated that information technology will stay gratis. "When the game moves to The New York Times, Wordle will exist free to play for new and existing players, and no changes volition be made to its gameplay," the newspaper promised.

That doesn't get out much room for movement — although it's possible the NYT could put it behind a paywall at a later date, as the argument could be interpreted as saying that it will be free when it moves, but not explicitly that it will be free for ever.

However, it seems more than likely to me that the NYT will utilise Wordle equally an opportunity to get more subscribers for other games which are being a paywall. As the NYT's statement puts it: "The Times remains focused on becoming the essential subscription for every English-speaking person seeking to sympathise and engage with the world. New York Times Games are a fundamental function of that strategy."

If more than i million people per day are visiting NYT Games, there's a decent risk that some of them will also fancy playing Spelling Bee, completing the crossword or trying Tiles. And it would just need a small percentage to sign up at $forty/year for the Times to make its money back from the Wordle purchase.

More likely is that it could become ads. There'southward no mention of them in the Times' statement, and other games on the site do have adverts, albeit not peculiarly intrusive ones.

There'due south as well the question of what would have happened if Wordle hadn't been bought; Wardle had already told The Guardian that "I feel a sense of responsibility for the players. I feel I actually owe information technology to them to go on things running and brand certain everything'south working correctly."

Without the purchase, then, it might have been closed downward anyway — whereas this mode we can keep playing, and that's got to be a skilful thing. On that forepart, we've put together some tips to help you lot get started with Wordle and a list of the best Wordle start words. And if you want to endeavor something different we also have a list of the best Wordle alternatives.

As U.K. Editor in Master on Tom's Guide, Marc is responsible for the site's U.K.-focused output as well equally overseeing all gaming, streaming, audio, Boob tube, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He previously edited the tech website Stuff and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart dwelling devices, Bluetooth speakers, games and much more. He likewise spent years on a music magazine, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people's fun, and on a car mag. An avid photographer, Marc likes nil better than taking pictures of very pocket-size things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). When he gets time, he also enjoys gaming (console and mobile), cycling and attempting to sentry as much sport as any human can (specially cricket).