The word puzzle game Wordle has enjoyed an incredible spike in popularity these last few months, with millions of people around the world making it part of their daily routine. Wordle became so popular that it even drew the attention of The New York Times, who ended up acquiring the rights to the game for an unspecified seven-figure sum. However, it seems that the Wordle craze may be on the decline since The New York Times acquisition.
A chart shared by Reddit user and Wordle fan TheTim shows that interest in the game may very well be dying down. Citing data from WordleStats, the cart shows how Wordle popularity increased from the beginning of January to early February. Indeed, this was the height of the Wordle craze, and it's also when Wordle creator Josh Wardle decided to sell the rights to the game to The New York Times.
Shortly after The New York Times' acquisition of Wordle, the game continued to enjoy increased popularity, only to then experience a decline that appears to still be going on. It should be noted that the data is based on how many people posted their daily Wordle results to Twitter, so while it's possible that just as many or even more people are still playing the game daily, it seems less of them are sharing their results online. Since sharing one's Wordle results is such a big reason why the game became a hit in the first place, though, it's safe to say that a decline in social media posts most likely correlates to a decline in active users.
There could be numerous reasons why Wordle's popularity has been on the decline since The New York Times acquisition. It's possible that it's just a coincidence and Wordle had already hit the peak of its popularity. It could also have something to do with The New York Times censoring some Wordle words. There are also those that think Wordle became more difficult after The New York Times acquisition, and while that has not been proven, if true, it could also be a reason why the game isn't quite as popular as it once was.
More recently, The New York Times shut down the Wordle archive, making it so users were unable to go back and play previous puzzles. Understandably, this upset a great deal of the Wordle community, especially new players who wanted to play all the puzzles in order. It's possible that this has also played a role in the game's decline in popularity, but that's just speculation at this time.
Even though it seems fewer people are talking about Wordle on social media than when the game is at its peak, it doesn't mean it's going anywhere anytime soon. Daily Wordle puzzles will continue to be a thing for the foreseeable future, and who knows, maybe it will even make a comeback.