Wordle fans react to the New York Times purchase: A year ago, Wordle founder Josh Wardle would have never thought that his tiny game would bring through The New York Times. However, that’s precisely what occurred to the game’s creator, who was also a Reddit employee.
The game’s four-month existence has gained much attention and many players in its brief existence. However, players are concerned that the acquisition could spell the end of Wordle.
Wardle creates Wordle as a private venture to pass the time during the COVID-19 epidemic. The word-solving puzzle design for his girlfriend, Palak Shah, described the game as a sign of affection.
The couple is avid fans of word games, especially the New York Times Spelling Bee. However, Wordle also has compared to other games like the Lingoand Jotto.
It attracted thousands of gamers by the end of 2021, taking online social networks by storm and creating numerous games based on Wordle similar games.
Wordle will join several other browser games that host through The New York Times, following its acquisition for an unspecified amount “in around the seven-figure range.”
Wordle’s owner stated that Wordlewould, in the beginning, be free. However, reports suggest it’s an element of its plan to grow its user numbers to 10 million in 2025.
Many players have expressed their concerns over Wordlebeing purchased from The New York Times and believed it wouldn’t take long before the game will be placed behind a paywall or infuse with advertisements and trackers.
The company has, however, Wardle recently issued a statement on Twitter saying that the game would be “free that is available to anyone.”
Wordle fans react to the New York Times purchase
There is still a lot of anxiety about the purchase.
In a post to the Wordle community on Reddit, several users attempted to play down the current situation unfolding in the past couple of days.
One participant joked that Wordle could replace the New York Times paywall.
Some have also noted they don’t need to pay for Wordlecan’t be restricted behind a paywall because Wordle is free to download and downloadable.
Users can download Wordle’s Wordle page in their browsers since the game runs on a client-side, which means it doesn’t require to connect with an internet server for it to play.
The future words encode into the game; this is why it was feasible for someone to develop a Twitter robot that ruins the future wordle answers.
Wordle will likely change through The New York Times somehow in the longer term. But the game at most in its current version can keep by those who don’t want to alter.
But, not everyone is in awe of the changes. Certain people reacted positively to the news, especially those who play word games with The New York Times.
In January, in the early days (and before an acquisition), Wardle addressed concerns about Wordle’s future Wordle and stated that the company was not interested in advertising and affirmed that Wordle would remain free to play.
He also expressed doubt about the methods used by mobile games to keep players engaged. At the same time, The New York Times acquisition can see as a flip-flop on this issue.
However, it will interesting to determine what happens if Wardle’s assurance to “free to anyone” can hold in the end.
Wordle has been released and is available to download to web browsers.
