The New York Times announced Monday that it has acquired the popular word game Wordle for an undisclosed "seven-figure sum."
The Times will incorporate the puzzle into their portfolio of word games, which already includes the Spelling Bee, The Mini, and The Crossword. As of December last year, NYT had more than 1 million subscribers to its games section.
By 2025, The Times hopes to reach a total of 10 million digital subscribers.
Wordle - a cheeky pun on its creator, Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn-based software engineer - has seen a meteoric rise.
The word game debuted in October on an ad-free website and had 90 users as of Nov. 1. By the middle of this month, that figure had ballooned to 300,000, and millions now play the game daily, according to the Times announcement.
The daily online game provides players with six chances to guess the day's secret five-letter word with the fewest possible guesses.
Social media posts about the game of the day, as well as screenshots of the game's distinctive grid, have become ubiquitous.
"With Wordle now a part of that daily experience, millions of people around the world will have another reason to turn to The Times for their daily news and life needs," the Times stated.
Wardle, who created the game for his puzzle-loving partner, recently told the Guardian he was overwhelmed by the game's viral success.
"I have a sense of obligation to the players. I feel a strong obligation to them to keep things running and to ensure that everything works properly," Wardle explained.
Wardle is collaborating with The Times to ensure that existing players' wins and streaks are preserved when the game is moved to the newspaper's website, according to a statement.
Games and puzzles are a critical component of the New York Times' strategy to keep its audience engaged on its apps and websites as more readers access news and entertainment via their mobile phones and tablets.
Wirecutter, the company's games, cooking, and product review website, added 135,000 members in the third quarter.
The Times spent $550 million this month to acquire the sports news website The Athletic, touting the site's 1.2 million subscribers.
Meanwhile, some Wordle devotees expressed concern that the newspaper would move the puzzle behind its paywall.
Some social media responses remained skeptical: "I'd better not lose my streak when the game changes or there will be HELL to pay," one player wrote on Twitter.
