The New York Times emerges as a game company

The New York Times emerges as a game company.

Thanks to acquiring Wordle (5-letter word puzzle game) for $1M+ in January 2022.

Its gaming app dominates user time spent.

Time Spent for NYT Apps (scr: YipitData)

𝙹𝚊𝚗 𝟸𝟸 █████░▓▓▒
𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟸𝟸 ████░▓▓▒
𝙳𝚎𝚌 𝟸𝟸 ██████░▓▓▒
𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟸𝟹 ██████░▓▓▓▓▓▒
𝙳𝚎𝚌 𝟸𝟹 ██████░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒

𝙾𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚝𝚑: ~𝟽𝟶%

█ NYT News
░ NYT Cooking
▓ NYT Games
▒ The Athletic

Downloads last month (src: Sensor Tower)

• NYT Games: 1M
• NYT News: 100K
• NYT Cooking: 80K
• The Athletic: 20K

But it’s not ‘just’ Wordle! ☝

NYT Games include games such as:

• Connections
• Crosswords
• Sudoku
• Mini

Gaming is key to interactive entertainment.

WHY?

Games boost engagement even for non-gaming companies.

Rumors suggest LinkedIn might add games.

So, let’s play a maze game.

🟢 Easy level:

How many turns from the left bottom corner to escape the shortest path?

🟡 Medium level:

How many bumps from the left bottom corner to escape the shortest path?

🔴 Hard level:

What’s the difference in left turns between the shorter and the longer path?