Viral word game Wordle's move to New York Times, many players have reportedly lost their streak scores. Wordle is a free browser game that tasks players with guessing a new five-letter word each day, with green and yellow boxes indicating s' success with their guesses. The game keeps tabs on player stats, including win percentage, as well as the current and maximum streak.
Wordle has become one of the biggest internet sensations of the year so far, not only due to its addicting gameplay, but also thanks to the way in which scores can be shared across social media. s can share their Wordle successes and failures in the form of colored squares, which are easy to copy and paste via the site's share function. The squares being shared worldwide have helped keep competitive interest in the game alive, with the game phenomenon growing from strength to strength with s even going so far as to create and share hilarious Wordle box memes.
Today, February 11, Wordle officially moved to New York Times, with the original website now redirecting to an NYT domain. The switch hasn't been smooth sailing, with players across social media reporting their Wordle streak scores have been reset as a result of the move. NYTimesWordplay on Twitter reported that a fix had been rolled out earlier today, though some on social media are still not yet seeing their scores fixed. It's unclear if the fix is continuing to work behind the scenes, or if some streak scores have been lost for good.
The lost score streak phenomenon is just one of the concerns of players, with many worried that Wordle may soon be paywalled. The game's original creator Josh Wardle has insisted the game be free to play to this point, refusing to capitalize on its success with ads or monetization. However, with NYTimes already having a paywalled games section, many believe it's only a matter of time before Wordle is locked behind it following the company's acquisition of the viral game.
As many still hope for their Wordle scores to return, it's worth noting that NYTimes managed to get an initial fix quickly implemented. This bodes well for any other potential issues down the line, though due to the simplicity of Wordle's design, it's hard to imagine what other problems could arise now the switch to NYT is complete. It's hoped all scores should be returned to players shortly, and if not, fans can at least build up another streak score for free - at least until more details emerge on whether Wordle will stay free to play in the future.
Source: NYTimesWordplay/Twitter
