You’re probably familiar with the little grey, yellow and green blocks that signify another successful round of Wordle. The free online game, the creation of American Josh Wardle, has proved to be a hit in the months since its launch. Well, things are about to change. Maybe.
See, Wordle, originally a one-man show, has just been purchased. By none other than The New York Times, and for “…an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures”. So at least a million dollars, then.
What’s the word on Wordle?
What’s going to change? As far as the game itself goes, probably not much. Better development, more game modes, perhaps some randomisation — we can see all that happening. But the core experience will probably remain the same. What might change is how you access the game.
Its new owners said “At the time it moves to The New York Times, Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players, and no changes will be made to its gameplay.” Which, since we’re talking about word games, is a tricky little sentence. It leaves the door open for that ‘free to play’ thing to be modified after Wordle moves to The New York Times.
The publication hosts a games division, which has a fair few games including Sudoku and its famous crossword puzzles. Some of these are free to access, while others require a subscription or an account to access. It may be as simple as a required login, or perhaps the newspaper will actually throw up a paywall. They’re unlikely to spend a sum in the millions without seeing some sort of future reward.
Josh Wardle doesn’t seem too worried about the future of the game, though. He said, “I’ve long admired The Times’s approach to the quality of 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.”