The New York Times Is Turning into a Gaming Company, Let That Sink In

Of all the news I come across daily, I never thought the New York Times’s transformation into a gaming company would be one of them. After all, one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world can’t turn into a gaming establishment overnight, right? Well, it turns out it has, but it hasn’t been so sudden. Or at least, that’s what a new report mentions.

The revelation comes from a brand-new report by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As per the charts detailing how much time users spend on apps, it seems people are spending more time on the NYT Games app than the actual news app!

This has naturally resulted in substantial growth for NYT Games, while NYT News, NYT Cooking, and others have suffered. This is based on customers’ time spent on the app playing games like Wordle, Crossword, and, of course, NYT Connections. Furthermore, the NYT Games app has consistently ranked in the top ten on iOS and Android charts. As it stands, The Times has silently and slowly become a gaming company.

While a part of me is surprised by this news, I also kind of expected it. The NYT has actually been releasing puzzle games since 1942, with games like Crossword. And we all know how it went: It became one of the single-most popular games that everyone has at least played once.

Similarly, in 2022, the New York Times purchased the popular Wordle game and later added it to the NYT Games app.

As reported by Axios, the subscription to the game has helped the company survive in the current year. Since the news subscription hasn’t seen any important growth, bundling games has done wonders for them. And the results are right in front of us.

Do you play Wordle? Were you shocked by the news that the New York Times is becoming a gaming company? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.