Wordle! Everyone’s favorite word game. For the time being, at least.

   After releasing in 2021 and breaking the internet in late 2021 to early 2022, Wordle has been everyone’s favorite way to pass the time. Whether it is right after waking up, or after going for a midday stroll, Wordle is sitting there, waiting for a daily win from its users.

   After sparking the entertainment industry’s attention in January, Wordle has since gained roughly one million daily players. Before being bought for an undisclosed price by the New York Times, an American daily newspaper, Wordle was owned by Josh Wardle.

   Wardle is originally from South Wales, and went to college in both London and the United States for a degree in Media Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Art.

   Putting his skills to the test, Wardle turned to his prototype of Wordle he had made in 2013 while working at Reddit. Wardle and his partner Palak Shah continued to develop the word puzzle, as the COVID-19 pandemic had gotten them into the groove of playing word games, which thus influenced the decision to make a new one.

   After initially releasing the game to only Wardle’s family members, he published the game to his own website in October of 2021, powerlanguage.co.uk, which allowed access to the public.

   Wordle’s user count skyrocketed in late December and early January. Wardle was proud of the success that Wordle had, but he did not place advertisements on his website and did not make profits from the game. Despite the money it could roll in, Wardle did not want it to become his job.

   The New York Times acquired the game in late January, and users have complained the game has become more difficult. Many reviews and social media platforms have blown up about the issue. Many users on platforms like Twitter are making posts with the words “NYT ruined Wordle” and “NYT made Wordle more difficult.”

   It is apparent that the once basic English vocabulary found on Wordle has expanded to a more advanced, less known genre of five letter words, but most people have still heard of them in day-to-day life. However, there are still users refuting the argument that the New York Times ruined Wordle, and the game continues to have over a million daily players.

   Who knew word games could be so popular? The New York Times did, and that is why they bought it.