The New York Times Company has bought Wordle, leading to paywall concerns from players

It seems like the New York Times Company wants to join Microsoft’s and Sony’s spending spree by purchasing a little corner of the gaming sphere. The New York Times magazine owners have announced today that it has purchased the web-based hit Wordle for a price “in the low seven figures.” This announcement comes hours after Sony announced its acquisition of Bungie, and less than two weeks from Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.

One of the most important factors to Wordle’s appeal is that it is free, and there are already concerns that the New York Times Company will put Wordle under a paywall similar to how the New York Times website functions. For example, you can’t read the article that officially announces the New York Times bought Wordle without a subscription.

At this moment, the New York Times promises “the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.” It should be pointed out that the quote specifically has “initially,” which strongly suggests that the company will most likely try to monetize it in the future.

The hit game Wordle has been purchased by the New York Times Company for a price "in the low seven figures," the company said. https://t.co/XZhY6kW3mv

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 31, 2022

Wordle is a word game where players will receive a grid of blocks, and each block has a hidden letter. Some of the blocks are green, and it is up to the player to guess what word makes up the green blocks. The game ended up being a huge hit on social media, with hundreds of Twitter accounts sharing their daily Wordle blocks. It was only a matter of time before a bigger company buys Wordle, but few would have guessed the New York Times would be the ones.