‘You had one job!’: Wordle players are FURIOUS after their winning streaks are reset to ZERO as the game moves to the New York Times website following a seven-figure deal
- Wordle made its transition to the New York Times website after being bought out
- But the switch seems to have reset Wordle winning streaks, according to players
- Another Wordle fan can no longer access it because of China’s national firewall
Players of the hugely popular online game Wordle are furious after losing their winning streaks, following the game’s move to the New York Times (NYT).
Fans have noticed several problems with the game’s transition from its original website to NYT’s website, including resetting how many games they’ve won in a row.
Wordle, which only offers one puzzle per day to keep fans hooked, has amassed millions of players since it came online last October.
It was created by Wales-born software engineer Josh Wardle for his girlfriend Palak Shah who loves word puzzles.
At the beginning of November, the simple game – which involves guessing a five-letter word in six tries – had only 90 players; now there are said to be 3 million.
Due to its barnstorming success, Wardle sold his creation to the NYT at the end of January for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
Previously, to play the game, people had to go to powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle, the website of Wordle’s creator.
Now, many people who enter this URL are finding themselves redirected to the NYT website, albeit with reset winning streaks.
Another Shanghai-based Wordle fan said she can no longer access the game because of China’s national firewall, which blocks the NYT website.
The hugely popular web game Wordle asks players to guess a five-letter word in six tries every day
When players win a game of Wordle they’re shown stats including how many games they’re played, winning percentage and their winning ‘streak’ (how many games they’ve won on the trot). This appeared to be reset for many users after its transition to the New York Times site
WHAT IS WORDLE?
Wordle is deceptively simple; you have six chances to guess a five-letter word.
After each guess, each letter will turn green, yellow or grey, meaning:
Green: correct letter, correct spot
Yellow: correct letter, wrong spot
Grey: wrong letter
You can then use these clues for your next guess.
When players win a game of Wordle – i.e. they guess the word in six guesses or fewer – they’re shown stats including how many games they’re played, winning percentage and their winning ‘streak’ (how many games they’ve won on the trot).
Wordle isn’t an app – it’s web browser-based – and players don’t have to login to a personal account on Wordle. Instead, their browser will remember their past performance including winning streaks.
The NYT addressed the issue on Twitter late on Thursday, saying that it’s currently working on a fix.
@NYTimesWordplay, the crossword and games section of NYT, posted on Twitter: ‘We are aware that your ‘current streak’ has been reset today.
‘Our Games team is currently investigating. Stay tuned for more #Wordle updates.’
It later provided an update: ‘We have identified the problem affecting users’ streaks and are actively working on a solution. Thank you for your patience.’
However, users weren’t impressed; one Wordle fan under the username @IndirectLemon on Twitter said: ‘Oh c’mon @nytimes, you had one job. #wordle #streak #broken.’
Another Twitter user, @JohnHeaner, wrote: ‘The Times screwed up this simple little pleasure faster than expected.’
@HollyLMcKenna said: ‘The B******* at NY Times removed my Wordle streak, excuse ME. I had 29 straight days of Wordle success and now THIS?’
And @agcornish91 said: ‘Wordle moved to the NYT website and it RESET MY STREAK as a result. I am canceling my subscription and filing a motion to sue the times for psychological damages.’
Yet another user, @stardustsummons, criticised the NYT for tweaking the Wordle user interface, which ‘made the logo ugly’.
Meanwhile, Shanghai-based Wordle fan @mhchiang_ also pointed out that Chinese players can no longer access the game as China’s national firewall blocked the entire NYT site.
‘I know it’s not your paper to blame on this, but plz keep the original URL for China,’ @mhchiang_ said.
Other fans reported that they were still accessing the game on the original URL, suggesting the transition to the NYT is still ongoing.
Wordle creator Josh Wardle decided to sell the virtual puzzle to NYT after it snowballed and became ‘overwhelming’ to run.
NYT has said it will ‘initially remain free to new and existing players’, although fans have expressed fears that it will go behind a paywall sooner or later, like much of the NYT’s website.
Richard Mann, a British Wordle fan, data scientist and creator of maths-inspired game Nerdle, thinks there are various monetisation strategies NYT might use.
‘I wouldn’t bet on a pay wall – 99 per cent of users would vanish overnight – and I think NYT’s mini crossword is still free,’ he told MailOnline.
‘I suspect we’ll see promotions on the win screen soon – maybe encouraging an upgrade to a NYT subscription or premium access to other Wordle-like games.’
Pictured is the new user interface for Wordle on the New York Times website. One Wordle fan called it ‘ugly’
After the sale was confirmed on January 31, creator Josh Wardle thanked users for sharing touching stories about the effect the game has had on their lives and relationships and added that he was ‘thrilled’ and relieved about the takeover.
He said: ‘Since launching Wordle, I have been in awe of the response of everyone that has played.
‘The game has gotten bigger than I ever imagined (which I suppose isn’t that much of a feat given I made the game for an audience of one).
‘It has been incredible to watch the game bring so much joy to so many and I feel so grateful for the personal stories some of you have shared with me – from Wordle uniting distant family members, to provoking friendly rivalries, to supporting medical recoveries.
‘On the flip side, I’d be lying if I said this hasn’t been overwhelming.’
NO-ONE LIKES A SPOILSPORT! TWITTER BANS A BOT ACCOUNT THAT LEAKED THE ‘WORDLE’ ANSWER TO MILLIONS OF EAGER PLAYERS
In January, Twitter suspended a bot account that was spoiling the solution to the next day’s Wordle, the wildly popular online word puzzle.
The Twitter profile that called itself ‘The Wordlinator’ (@wordlinator) seemed determined to ruin the fun for players posting their scores.
It’s thought that the person behind the account found the upcoming winning words by simply looking at the Wordle web page’s source code.
The mean-spirited ‘Wordlinator’ automatically responded to accounts posting their Wordle scores with the message: ‘Guess what. People don’t care about your mediocre linguistic escapades. To teach you a lesson, tomorrow’s word is…’ followed by the next day’s answer.
One Wordle fan on Twitter said: ‘Just what kind of sick, twisted person do you have to be to hate the sight of people enjoying a harmless activity so much you hack Wordle?’
Another Twitter user said: ‘Amazing how fast Twitter can respond to important issues.’
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