What is up with Wordle?

Wordle is a word game created by software engineer Josh Wardle to play with his partner. As the interest in the game spread to the people in his life, he made it public in October 2021. The game rapidly added players in the following months and on January 9th there were over 2 million players.

The game is quite simple once one understands how the game works, and that might be why it is so addictive. Each day there is a different 5-letter word that is picked as the solution and players have six tries to guess the word. After each guess, the letters that are in the word and also in the correct placement in the word turn green, the letters that are in the word but not in the correct placement turn yellow, and the letters that are not in the word at all turn gray. There are various techniques and strategies to the game and different kinds of players who take the game very seriously or are relaxed about it. Personally, I fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

This minimalistic design may have been the reason fans of the game got so angered by Wordle being bought out. In late January, the NYT bought out Wordle for an “undisclosed price in the low-seven figures.” The Times will be able to change the game to make it harder or different, and since the game is so simplistic, every little change will be noticed. 

However, the creator of the game, Josh Wardle, seems to be pleased with the arrangement and optimistic that the New York Times will not ruin the game for players. After the purchase of the game, he shared, “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.”

Even if the New York Times does not ruin the game by changing how it functions, it will still almost definitely start charging players by putting it behind their paywall. This would ruin one of the best aspects of Wordle because it is currently free, which allowed it to gain the popularity and place in popular culture that it did. If players are required to pay, I fear that the game will lose the sense of community that it has developed.

The NYT has spoken to the concerns of players having to pay and said that it will “initially continue to be free to play.” Their statement is not promising, but I would not expect anything more from them as a large corporation trying to make money. Wordle players better savor the days that they are able to play freely because I feel like those days are very numbered.

I understand why Wardle decided to sell the game. The amount of money that he received is a very large amount for an average worker and if I were faced with the option, I would have sold as well. That does not mean that I think the NYT should have barged in and put in an offer though. The game was functioning well and at peak popularity when they bought it. This means that players had nothing to gain and plenty to lose from the purchase of Wordle. I feel like the NYT simply wanted to stay relevant and in the major headlines, which they did manage to do.

I naively hope that the New York Times decides to keep the game free, and better yet even forget that they bought it and never touch it again, but I know that that is not realistic. As an avid player, I will continue playing it for free as long as I can and relish in the remaining moments before the New York Times puts a stop to it.