Avid players of the viral word game Wordle have noticed something different about the game in recent days, with many saying it feels harder to play.
Some fans believe the game has gotten more difficult since it was bought by The New York Times (NYT) earlier this month.
The word puzzle was purchased by the publication from creator Josh Wardle on 31 January and migrated to the NYT’s website last Thursday.
But players have taken to Twitter to complain about the game becoming “too hard” to win since it changed ownership, with several indicating that the difficulty has put them off.
One person wrote: “Ever since NYTimes bought Wordle, the game got a lil [sic] too hard. I ain’t playing no more. This embarrassing score. I had to use two different browsers for extra guess and still barely got the word.”
Another added: “Today’s Wordle should be used to punish war criminals, that was so hard.”
A third said: “The NYT made Wordle too hard, I feel stupid now.”
When the takeover was announced, the NYT promised that no changes would be made to the gameplay.
The NYT has denied that any changes were made to make the game more challenging. Communications director Jordan Cohen told The Guardian in an email: “Nothing has changed about the gameplay.”
It comes after some players were left disappointed after their winning streaks were reset when the game moved to the NYT website.
The glitch that reset players’ streaks was fixed several hours after it was identified, and the NYT Wordplay Twitter account advised players to use the old Wordle URL to get into the game.
“To preserve your streaks, please open the old URL last used to play Wordle,” it said. “This will automatically redirect to the NYT Wordle page, carrying your streaks with you.
“If you go directly to the NYT Wordle page without a redirect, your stats will not go with you.”
