3 ms·

i don't get it. wordle got popular because NYT publicized it, then they buy it. why would they buy it? They could've just cloned it in a few days with their t

i don't get it. wordle got popular because NYT publicized it, then they buy it. why would they buy it? They could've just cloned it in a few days with their team, no?

gaws 5y ago
> why would they buy it? They could've just cloned it in a few days with their team, no? It would be very obviously the NYT ripped the game off from the original, and that wouldn't look good. They had the money to buy it and did so.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  companies rip things off all of the time. purchasing is hardly the only option, or even the best option.
cm2012 5y ago
They bought it for low 7 figures, thats a huge bargain. It would have cost them that much in developer time to build it, forget about the marketing.
- swalls 5y ago
  What? Even a junior dev could clone Wordle in a day, maybe add a week for polishing the animations and such.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  you have to be joking. you think it would cost 7 figures to recreate wordle?
  - cm2012 5y ago
    For a big company like the NYtimes, it would not surprise me. But in any case the built in audience is what they're buying.
  - grepLeigh 5y ago
    In my experience, businesses are wildly capital-inefficient at shipping software. The personnel needed to ship something in a tech org with 100s or 1000s of employees might look like... - Front-end developer - Back-end developer - DevOps / Infra - UX/Designer - Product Manager - Engineering Manager - Security, Risk & Compliance, Legal (ensure someone doesn't sue NYT over some mis-worded privacy policy or mis-use of user data) If project planning occurs in quarters (or half-quarters, for those "nimble" cos), getting the Wordle project green-lit means spending 1/4-1/8th year of salaries/benefits for this squad all-in. Kudos to the creator for making this sale! Great timing, hope the money is life-changing in the best possible way.
- cr1895 5y ago
  > It would have cost them that much in developer time to build it I’m not really into the backstory but isn’t this game a quick project of one software engineer in his free time?
alx__ 5y ago
Because that would have been an asshole move. This gets them views, goodwill, and probable revenue stream. In long term probably worth more than what they paid
- endisneigh 5y ago
  I'd agree if they don't touch it at all, but since they bought it they're going to monetize it. what difference does it make at that point? do people not go on instagram for shamelessly ripping off snapchat? wordle itself is just a clone of lingo, etc. etc.
  - colinmhayes 5y ago
    I disagree. I think they'll throw it on their already monetized crossword app(they claim to have 1 million subscribers) as a freebee to get people in the door. They might let you do extra words if you have a subscription, but a lot of the beauty of wordle is 1 word per day which creates a strong network.
    - jffry 5y ago
      They could also go the route of "daily word is free, archives are part of the subscription", or similar
  - tasha0663 5y ago
    Instagram predates Snapchat
- thehappypm 5y ago
  Why would anyone play the clone? The real game is free and has the network effect.
ChrisArchitect 5y ago
goodwill. And he was looking for someone to take over 'running it', surely offloading monitoring it/any kind of server upkeep and a department of NYT games ppl making the clues etc would be helpful at this point. Hats off to him.
dools 5y ago
You can clone a website but you can’t clone a million people searching “wordle” every day in Google. So imagine they did clone it then they paid a million dollars in paid traffic to it OR they would simply be preaching to the choir. A million is probably a fraction of NYT total paid ad spend monthly and look at what they’re getting for that! It’s a bargain

i don't get it. wordle got popular because NYT publicized it, then they buy it. why would they buy it? They could've just cloned it in a few days with their team, no?

gaws 5y ago

> why would they buy it? They could've just cloned it in a few days with their team, no? It would be very obviously the NYT ripped the game off from the original, and that wouldn't look good. They had the money to buy it and did so.

endisneigh 5y ago
companies rip things off all of the time. purchasing is hardly the only option, or even the best option.

cm2012 5y ago

They bought it for low 7 figures, thats a huge bargain. It would have cost them that much in developer time to build it, forget about the marketing.

swalls 5y ago
What? Even a junior dev could clone Wordle in a day, maybe add a week for polishing the animations and such.
endisneigh 5y ago
you have to be joking. you think it would cost 7 figures to recreate wordle?
- cm2012 5y ago
  For a big company like the NYtimes, it would not surprise me. But in any case the built in audience is what they're buying.
- grepLeigh 5y ago
  In my experience, businesses are wildly capital-inefficient at shipping software. The personnel needed to ship something in a tech org with 100s or 1000s of employees might look like... - Front-end developer - Back-end developer - DevOps / Infra - UX/Designer - Product Manager - Engineering Manager - Security, Risk & Compliance, Legal (ensure someone doesn't sue NYT over some mis-worded privacy policy or mis-use of user data) If project planning occurs in quarters (or half-quarters, for those "nimble" cos), getting the Wordle project green-lit means spending 1/4-1/8th year of salaries/benefits for this squad all-in. Kudos to the creator for making this sale! Great timing, hope the money is life-changing in the best possible way.
cr1895 5y ago
> It would have cost them that much in developer time to build it I’m not really into the backstory but isn’t this game a quick project of one software engineer in his free time?

alx__ 5y ago

Because that would have been an asshole move. This gets them views, goodwill, and probable revenue stream. In long term probably worth more than what they paid

endisneigh 5y ago
I'd agree if they don't touch it at all, but since they bought it they're going to monetize it. what difference does it make at that point? do people not go on instagram for shamelessly ripping off snapchat? wordle itself is just a clone of lingo, etc. etc.
- colinmhayes 5y ago
  I disagree. I think they'll throw it on their already monetized crossword app(they claim to have 1 million subscribers) as a freebee to get people in the door. They might let you do extra words if you have a subscription, but a lot of the beauty of wordle is 1 word per day which creates a strong network.
  - jffry 5y ago
    They could also go the route of "daily word is free, archives are part of the subscription", or similar
- tasha0663 5y ago
  Instagram predates Snapchat
thehappypm 5y ago
Why would anyone play the clone? The real game is free and has the network effect.

ChrisArchitect 5y ago

goodwill. And he was looking for someone to take over 'running it', surely offloading monitoring it/any kind of server upkeep and a department of NYT games ppl making the clues etc would be helpful at this point. Hats off to him.

dools 5y ago

You can clone a website but you can’t clone a million people searching “wordle” every day in Google. So imagine they did clone it then they paid a million dollars in paid traffic to it OR they would simply be preaching to the choir. A million is probably a fraction of NYT total paid ad spend monthly and look at what they’re getting for that! It’s a bargain