The New York Times acquires Wordle for a price in the "low-seven figures"

The New York Times has announced that it has acquired Wordle, the daily word game that has turned into a cultural phenomenon for an "undisclosed price in the low-seven figures." Wordle will be added to the New York Times Games' portfolio of "original, engaging" puzzle games including Crossword, Vertex, Tiles, Letter Boxed, Spelling Bee, and the Mini Crossword.

Commenting on the future of the game, General Manager for the New York Times Games, Jonathan Knight stated:

We could not 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. As part of our portfolio of games, Wordle will have an exciting future with the help of a team of talented engineers, designers, editors and more, furthering the user experience.

Josh Wardle launched the daily word game for the public in October 2021 and since then, it has garnered millions of daily players who get six tries to guess a five-letter word. Over 300,000 people played Wordle on the 2nd of January, showing a massive increase in the number of players that was 90 on November 1, 2021.

Talking about the acquisition of Wordle by The New York Times, Wardle stated:

If you’ve followed along with the story of Wordle, you’ll know that New York Times Games play a big part in its origins, and so this step feels very natural to me. 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.

He further stated that he is working with The New York Times to ensure that your wins and streaks are preserved. Once Wordle moves to the NYT site, it will be free to play for new and existing players. There will also be no changes coming to its gameplay.