Speaker
Alex Hardiman
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
NYT Games puzzles were played 11.2 billion times in a single year, illustrating the staggering scale of the Times' gaming audience.
The New York Times grew from about 1 million digital subscribers roughly a decade ago to nearly 13 million today, targeting 15 million by 2027.
The NYT launched its crossword puzzle in February 1942, 11 days after Pearl Harbor, explicitly to give the public mental engagement during wartime anxiety.
About 10-11 years ago the NYT had a shrinking newsroom of about 1,300 journalists; since then subscription growth has enabled significant expansion.
The New York Times launched its digital subscription model in 2011, earlier than many realized, well ahead of its 2015 pivot to a subscription-first strategy.
Wordle cost the NYT a reported low seven figures and brought tens of millions of new users. That makes it one of the most cost-effective media acquisitions ever — compared to the $1 billion paid for the Boston Globe, which sold for $70 million.
FarmVille had 83 million monthly players in 2010 and generated 12% of Facebook's revenue by its 2012 IPO. Then players wised up, fatigue set in, and the bubble burst. Jonathan Knight — who ran FarmVille — is now betting the NYT won't make the same mistake.
AI companies have told the NYT their models still can't reliably solve Connections. The misdirects, the human trickery — that's irreplaceable. Players can smell a machine-made game, and they don't come back.
In 1924, the New York Times editorial board called crossword puzzle enthusiasm 'sinful waste.' Last year, NYT puzzles were played 11.2 billion times. The century-long arc of the paper's relationship to games is the episode's funniest irony.
The NYT tests new games in Canada first, watching day-1, day-7, and day-30 retention above all else. If people come back, it's because the game made them feel accomplished. If they don't, no solve rate fix can save it.
Zimmerman's game design instincts surfaced in 5th grade when he made a board game about the digestive system where players were food particles trying to get pooped out. It wasn't very fun — but it was the beginning.
Crossplay — essentially a clean, elegant Scrabble — requires account creation and has produced some of the best retention metrics Jonathan Knight has seen in his career. It also ships with an AI-powered Game Review feature so players actually improve.
Games aren't just entertainment — they're the best framework for understanding how digital culture works. Just as Wikipedia replaced encyclopedias by making users into authors, games turn passive audiences into active participants in systems of information.
Game designers don't make graphics or code — they make rules. The art is constructing a space of possibility where players surprise even their creators, the same way grammar can't explain Shakespeare.
Josh Wardle built Wordle for friends and family. By January 2022 it had 300,000 users and was exploding on Twitter. Jonathan Knight, sick with COVID, got on the phone with Wardle and closed the deal in weeks — for a reported low seven figures.
A decade ago, the NYT had only 1 million digital subscribers, a shrinking newsroom of 1,300 journalists, and no clear path to growth. The pivot to subscription-first, powered in part by games like Wordle, has taken them to nearly 13 million — with a target of 15 million by 2027.
Gamification borrows points, levels and badges from games — but leaves behind the thing that actually matters: creative problem-solving, productive conflict, and the freedom to play. It reduces cuisine to nutrition facts.
Eleven days after Pearl Harbor, the NYT's Sunday editor wrote a memo arguing for a crossword puzzle to give the public mental engagement during bleak blackout hours. The same logic applies today.
Gamification — using game mechanics like leaderboards and badges to change behavior — looks like play but isn't. Real games involve creative risk, productive conflict, and genuine stakes. Frequent flyer miles are not games.
The video game market is now worth nearly $200 billion — up from $13 billion in 2000. That makes it bigger than movies and music put together, and explains why every media company is rushing to claim a piece.
Analysis
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