The New York Times just bought Wordle, everyone’s favorite free game on the internet.
If you haven’t heard of Wordle, you’re probably not on Facebook. In the past few months, cryptic posts started popping up with a curious green, yellow, and grey grid and numbers that made no sense without any context. It looked like this:
Then they were popping up every day, as more and more users began engage in the game. The game exploded in popularity, and has since had people starting fan pages, tweeting about it, and even diving into the psychology of why everyone seemingly got addicted to the simple game at the same time.
One of the most appealing aspects of the game is the sense of community it invokes: it’s one game per day, and everyone plays the same one. There are no levels to aspire to, no option for binge-gaming, and no way to really one-up other players. It’s pretty perfect in its simplicity — and its free. You get six chances to guess a word. That’s it. That’s the entire game. And many of us are addicted.
Yesterday, The New York Times announced that it had purchased the game from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn. They paid a price “in the low seven figures.” He announced the sale on his Twitter page, noting that the game would “be free to play for everyone.”
An update on Wordle pic.twitter.com/TmHd0AIRLX
— Josh Wardle (@powerlanguish) January 31, 2022
And because we’ve all loved playing it so much, people are very happy for Wardle!
I’m happy for Mr. Wordle. He made a game for his partner because she loved word games, then he shared it with all of us for nothing. Now he gets a million unexpected dollars. Because he loved someone!
— Caissie (@Caissie) January 31, 2022
Why are people mad the Wordle guy got paid? Pay the sweet Wordle man! Give him jewels and gold for his glorious letter squares! He got less than half what it could have been worth in a bidding war and he kept it a free game. Shower him with champagne and furs!
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 1, 2022
I’m glad the Wordle guy got paid. He made something that brought a tremendous amount of joy to people, and selling to the New York Times strikes me as one of the least noxious ways he could have gone about it.
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) February 1, 2022
Josh also insists that your winning streaks will be preserved, parents.
