Players Quit ‘Wordle’ After Times’s Million-Dollar Purchase of Game – IOTW Report

Players Quit ‘Wordle’ After Times’s Million-Dollar Purchase of Game

WFB: Player engagement with Wordle has plummeted since the New York Times bought the popular word game for more than a million dollars earlier this year.

The game, in which a player has six chances to guess a five-letter word, quickly became an internet sensation after it was launched late last year, and it attracts millions of users daily. The Times acquired the app from software engineer Josh Wardle on Jan. 31, and in just two weeks, the app’s engagement levels have dropped 25 percent, according to a LikeFolio analysis. The game’s “consumer happiness” also dropped 16 points since it was acquired. Many users speculated that the Times changed Wordle’s gameplay after the purchase, but the company released a statement in January ensuring that the game itself would stay the same.

But the Times did alter the game’s dictionary, removing words such as “whore” and “pussy” from the list of possible guesses. more

21 Comments on Players Quit ‘Wordle’ After Times’s Million-Dollar Purchase of Game

  1. Kcir – Close to twenty years ago our company was performing a survey to quote on services to a local liberal arts college and we were given a tour of the dorms and student union. Stacked outside each dorm was a four foot high pile of New York Times newspapers. The administrator showing us around said the NYT provides them to us for free. He also said: “I wished they didn’t because it creates a huge mess to clean up every day”

    The point is that’s part of their propaganda effort right there!

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  2. I played a few times. Moderately fun, but not enough to keep me coming back every day. And my guess is that most others will simply drop off, particularly when their friends stop talking about it.
    NY Times bought at the peak of interest, just a stupid purchase but awfully nice for the creator!

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  3. Thinking that eventually they will begin charge you to play it — like they did with the crossword puzzles for non-subscribers. They have to create some kind of revenue stream with the fall off in NYT subscribers.

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  4. The NYT also recently bought The Athletic website. It is longform sports journalism and done very well. There is a subscription, but cheap for what you get and 100% ad free.

    I cancelled my subscription the day I heard the news.

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  5. Get woke, go broke. They arrange another bland gray leftist offering of pablum predigested and vomited into the bowl. To remain true to leftist form the Times should require subscribers to play and punish them for failing to do so. Of course non subscribers will have to pay.

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