San Francisco Frontiers - Wordle heads to primetime as media seek puzzle reinvention

US broadcaster NBC is producing a game show based on the word puzzle Wordle to be hosted by morning TV news anchor Savannah Guthrie, with a premiere set for 2027.

For Jonathan Knight, the Times' head of games, it is the logical extension of a property that has become a global phenomenon.

"Wordle kind of blew the doors open in terms of being very approachable -- anybody can do it," Knight told AFP on the sidelines of the Web Summit in Vancouver, Canada.

The road to greenlight the TV show took around two and a half years, Knight said, with the Times insisting on co-producing rather than simply licensing the name.

"It's Hollywood, you never know. Everyone believed in the idea of it. But then, will it be good? Will it be true to Wordle? Those are all questions we had to answer through a development process."

The television deal is the latest chapter in a growth story that evolved over time.

Knight arrived at the Times games division in 2020 to find Spelling Bee and the traditional crossword as the main app attractions.

Spelling Bee, launched in 2018 and adapted from a print puzzle, had already begun pulling in a younger audience with its mobile format and ranking system.

By 2019, Knight said, the trajectory was clear enough that the company began investing heavily in a full portfolio.

"You could really see the opportunity -- not just for a crossword puzzle, but for a collection of games," he noted.

Then Wordle arrived and reset all expectations.

Created by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle as a personal project, the game grew from 90 players in November 2021 to more than two million just weeks later.

The Times acquired it in early 2022, and in Knight's telling, it "turbocharged" everything the team had been putting in place.

"It kind of blew the doors open in terms of a very approachable, anybody-can-do-it game. Everybody solves it, whether it's in two tries or six. It doesn't take that long and it feels great."

- Come for the games -

The Times has since reported its games were played more than eight billion times in a single year, the majority by Wordle players.

The business logic underpinning all of it is a subscription model that distinguishes the Times sharply from traditional game companies.

"A lot of people come just for the games... And that's great, because it grows our overall subscriber base, and eventually some of those folks are going to experiment with everything else we have to offer," Knight said.

The model has not gone unnoticed, with news media companies pushing their own games products.

In the most recent example, Time magazine this week launched Time Games, featuring online word puzzles and jigsaws made from its iconic magazine covers.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn hired three-time world Sudoku champion Thomas Snyder as its first-ever puzzlemaster and initially launched three daily puzzle games modeled on the short, habit-forming design the Times pioneered -- a number that has grown.

Netflix has made similar moves.

- 'Understand your audience' -

Knight said he constantly fields questions from international media executives, but urges caution about treating the Times' playbook as a simple template.

"You have to understand your audience at its core," he said. "Users will reject it if you're just trying to shove a puzzle down their throat that has no connection to your core values as a company."

Internally, the division remains in constant experimentation mode. Games are tested and cut if they fail to clear the bar.

Innovation continues on existing titles as well, including puzzle variants, cross-game challenges and themed days that have developed a devoted following.

"April Fools' is sort of our Super Bowl," Knight said.

G.Collins--SFF