‘Wordle’ Creator Reveals Copycats Pushed Him To Sell Game To New York Times

Photo 240506332 © Wachiwit | Dreamstime.com

Like many players have lamented of late, Wordle no longer feels like Wordle to its very creator. That’s why he sold this deeply personal project to the New York Times for an unspecified amount in the millions, as he’s recently revealed at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The driving force behind the buyout? Clones piggybacking on his game for money.

Fans would know that the game’s inventor Josh Wardle created Wordle as a gift for his fellow language-loving partner. But it soon skyrocketed into worldwide popularity, tempting profiteers to replicate the formula for less wholesome interests.

“I was making a game for my partner. [I wasn’t] going to put ads on it,” Wardle shared at the conference. “Even when it became really popular, I felt, why can’t there be a nice thing on the Internet that people can play? But other people were totally fine monetizing the game.”

“Something about that felt deeply unpleasant,” he added. Plus, the unwarranted attention got too uncomfortable.

So when the moment arose, Wardle gave the game up to the New York Times, the very platform whose crosswords inspired him to develop Wordle. It was an opportunity for him to “walk away from” the exploitation, he said.

The creator said the sale would rid him of the expectation to hire a lawyer and send out cease-and-desist letters for a game he never intended to make money from.

“The business side of running a game doesn’t interest me at all,” he emphasized.

Wardle stands by his decision to entrust the game to the news outlet. “I think they’ll be great stewards,” he explained. “Their games play an important part in the origin of Wordle. They treat their players with respect." And, importantly: “I don’t think they're going to cover the game in ads or anything."

Now that he’s stepped away from the drama, Wardle is just glad that he doesn’t have real plans for the future. “I’m just going to bugger around and see,” he said.

[via The Independent and Ars Technica, cover photo 240506332 © Wachiwit | Dreamstime.com]