Subscribers of The New York Times who enjoy puzzles such as Wordle or the crossword will find Wednesday particularly noteworthy. The Times' Games division has unveiled 'Crossplay', a new multiplayer game modeled after Scrabble, marking the unit’s initial foray into designed multiplayer experiences. This game is the eleventh entry in the site’s collection of puzzles, which collectively were engaged with over 11.2 billion times in 2025.
Alongside Games, The Times has cultivated remarkable digital expansion through supplementary products like its Cooking app and the Wirecutter product recommendation service over the last decade. This diversification has significantly supported the paper's journalistic endeavors. Dan Kennedy, a professor at Northeastern University, remarks that these products have been a "huge boon to the journalism" efforts of the paper. The Times now employs approximately 3,000 journalists, which is its largest cadre ever and more than double its size ten years ago. This growth comes as the wider newspaper industry has faced substantial attrition; from a workforce of over 350,000 journalists in 2005, the number has fallen to 91,550 as of last year, based on data from Northwestern University.
Kennedy himself engages with The Times’ crossword puzzle on its simplest days, noting the appeal it has even for casual players. His daughter is an ardent Wordle follower. Furthermore, both appreciate Wirecutter’s curated recommendations, like recent features on cat beds and multi-functional vibrators that double as necklaces. Meanwhile, his wife frequently utilizes the Cooking app’s extensive recipe collection, which caters to a range of occasions. Kennedy expresses some puzzlement at other news organizations attempting to emulate The Times' success, observing that its lead in these areas appears firmly established.
The Times conceptualizes its brand ecosystem as a solar system, with the newspaper at the center acting as the sun and the various digital products revolving around it like planets. This perspective underscores the interconnectedness of its news and ancillary offerings, with some jesting that it has become more of a game company that also produces news. In 2023, research firm YipitData found that subscribers spent more time on The Times’ Games section than on the digital newspaper itself, although the company has not provided updated data since then. As of September of the previous year, the paper reported 12.33 million subscribers, representing a 9% increase from 2024 and nearly all of whom are digital subscribers. Subscription revenue from digital products escalated by 14%. About half of these subscribers opt for a $30 monthly bundle including all products, while the rest choose individual offerings à la carte. Notably, subscriptions strictly for news decreased last year.
Jonathan Knight, head of games at The Times, states his commitment to the organization’s mission — seeking truth, fostering understanding, and maintaining journalist independence — and finds his role in games development profoundly fulfilling. Though puzzles and contests are long-standing traditions for newspapers, The Times’ modern digital game offerings have accelerated significantly in recent years. The crossword was first published in 1942 and went digital in 2009. The popularity of the spelling bee game later in the decade notably attracted users less comfortable with the crossword.
The pivotal moment for The Times’ Games platform arrived in 2022 with the acquisition of Wordle, an addictive daily word-guessing puzzle originally developed by Brooklyn software engineer Josh Wardle. The game's premise requires players to identify a five-letter word in as few guesses as possible by narrowing down letter options. Knight and his team recognized the game's viral potential promptly, acquiring it rapidly after colleagues introduced him to the concept. Wordle was played 4.2 billion times last year and engenders widespread social media engagement, with users sharing results and reacting daily. Knight did not foresee such rapid scaling but has expressed that the site has reached a remarkable audience size.
Maintaining the game's ideal pace of one puzzle per day guides the team’s development philosophy. They focus on high-quality, human-crafted games and typically introduce one new title per year, avoiding over-saturation of the platform with numerous lesser-quality options. Knight emphasizes that the company prioritizes users’ time and aims to foster a positive daily habit without encouraging compulsive engagement. A particularly successful addition has been Connections, which challenges players to link related concepts. Conversely, attempts to introduce math-oriented puzzles like Digits were unsuccessful, leading to cautious stewardship of numerical games going forward.
The Games staff actively engages with their community through newsletters and dedicated forums, acknowledging their users’ passion and kindness. This collaborative relationship enriches the gaming experience and user loyalty. The release of Crossplay leverages the enduring popularity of Scrabble but attempts to enhance the experience beyond existing ad-heavy alternatives such as the Scrabble Go app. While similar in concept, Crossplay offers subtle differences, including variations in board design and letter values. Players can challenge friends, compete against AI opponents, track their records, and access a unique "Cross Bot" feature which provides postgame analyses and suggestions to improve scoring. Unlike most Times games, Crossplay is available as a standalone app download.
The launch of Crossplay reflects The Times’ strategic innovation to deepen subscriber engagement and sustain its evolving business model. It positions the company not only as a revered news organization but also as a leader in digital gaming within its subscriber base. Developer and executive perspectives suggest that the game marks a new chapter in their multifaceted approach to digital content delivery, inviting users to play on while advancing the broader mission of independent journalism.