Based on the context, it would appear that he is referring to mobile games like CandyCrush and their ilk, "games usually have "optimized" on (rather quick) rewa

Based on the context, it would appear that he is referring to mobile games like CandyCrush and their ilk, "games usually have "optimized" on (rather quick) reward feedback and I can imagine that this is very similar as social media in some sense". I don't think that refers to the NYT Crossword puzzle.