Merriam-Webster Says Don’t Worry, Quordle Won’t Use a Fee Wall
For all those who take some pride in playing Quordle, the five-letter crossword known for its four times the difficulty of Wordle, your word finding quest is proven. Iconic dictionary brand Merriam-Webster has acquired the popular online puzzler and announced it on Thursday.
Merriam-Webster, owned by Encyclopedia Britannica, quietly acquired the game, which launched shortly after Wordle became an online phenomenon in late 2021.
Quorderle has a lot in common with words. Whereas Wordle asks you to solve a five-letter puzzle in five guesses, Quordle asks you to solve four five-word puzzles simultaneously in nine attempts.
Both give you a standard virtual keyboard, and once you enter a five-letter guess word, the letters appear on all four-word boards. The correct words in the right places are green and the correct words in the wrong places are orange. Yes, just like Wordle.
The big difference is that a set of letters applies immediately to all four puzzles, which is why Quordle is considered a lot harder. You are solving four puzzles at once and with only nine attempts.
News of the acquisition was announced on Twitter by the Quordle account and now the Quordle URL https://www.qordle.com solve one URL Merriam-Webster.
I’m pleased to announce that Quordle has been acquired by @MerriamWebster. I can’t think of a better house for this game. Lots of new and exciting features to come, so stay tuned!January 20, 2023
Quordle doesn’t have a die-hard fan base like Wordle (perhaps it’s too hard), but Merriam-Webster’s backing could change that.
What most people didn’t know until Friday, however, was that Merriam-Webster bought Qordle last year.
Merriam-Webster President, Gregory Barlow, told me on Friday: “The founder was a big fan of us being the home for the product…. Me and our editors are also the same people. passionate fans. The negotiations were fast and fun.”
Barlow said that after the acquisition for an undisclosed amount, the dictionary website made only minor changes to Qordle, such as adding the Merriam-Webster logo last month. However, it wasn’t until they migrated the entire Qordle platform and URLs to Merriam-Webster’s servers on Thursdays (January 19), that Freddie Meyer, the creator of Qordle, shared the news on Twitter.
While the URL is different, Quordle fans shouldn’t expect any major changes.
“I don’t have any changes planned. We have some new features and maybe some new game types coming out, but the core game that people play every day, I don’t expect. wait for it to change.”
More importantly, Merriam-Webster has no plans to put Quordle behind a wall of fees. That will satisfy a lot of dedicated players. According to Barlow, 29.7 million users have played Quordle 410 million times in the past six months.
I asked Barlow, was there any concern that The New York Times would go after the now more famous Qordle because of its similarities to Wordle?
“No. [It’s] definitely don’t copy Wordle. We love Quordle because it’s a different game. Must do four words that introduce such different play styles and tactics.”
And yes, Barlow is a Quordle player and it was a long time before Merriam-Webster bought the game.