--- title: "NYT Games: how games power The New York Times subscription · SIWA" description: "Wordle, Connections and the bundle: using official figures, how The New York Times turned its games into an on-ramp to subscription and a retention lever." canonical_url: "https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/nyt-games-abonnement" last_updated: 2026-10-27 locale: en meta: "og:description": "Wordle, Connections and the bundle: using official figures, how The New York Times turned its games into an on-ramp to subscription and a retention lever." "og:image": "https://dev.siwa.io/og/en/default.jpg?v=c9a0bbc0" "og:image:alt": "SIWA: 23 word and logic games, a new challenge every day." "og:image:height": "630" "og:image:type": image/jpeg "og:image:width": "1200" "og:title": "NYT Games: how games power The New York Times subscription" "twitter:image": "https://dev.siwa.io/og/en/default.jpg?v=c9a0bbc0" "twitter:image:alt": "SIWA: 23 word and logic games, a new challenge every day." --- > Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://dev.siwa.io/llms.txt) Monetisation # NYT Games: how games power The New York Times subscription The New York Times uses its games as a free on-ramp to a bundled subscription that combines news, games, cooking and sports. At the end of June 2026 it had 13.35 million subscribers; by the end of 2025, more than half of its digital subscribers paid for the bundle or several products, and multi-product subscribers stay longer. Updated October 27, 2026 6 min read ## Key takeaways - The New York Times had 13.35 million subscribers at the end of June 2026, about 12.8 million of them digital-only. - At the end of 2025, 6.48 million of 12.21 million digital subscribers were on the bundle or multiple products, at $12.92 a month on average versus $3.36 for a single non-news product. - Wordle, bought in January 2022 for a low seven-figure sum, brought tens of millions of new users and the best quarter ever for Games subscriber additions. - Games work mainly as an on-ramp and a retention tool: the paper reports better retention among subscribers who use several products. - The strategy rests on an exceptional brand and scale: a regional publisher should borrow the mechanics, not the orders of magnitude. ## How did The New York Times make games a pillar of its subscription? Crosswords have been part of the paper for a long time, but the turning point came in January 2022, when it bought Wordle. The company said it paid a sum "in the low seven figures" ([Press Gazette, May 2022](https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/new-york-times-wordle-traffic/)). In its first-quarter 2022 results, it wrote that Wordle brought "an unprecedented tens of millions of new users", many of whom stayed to play other games, driving its best quarter ever for net subscriber additions to Games ([The New York Times Company, May 2022](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/71691/000007169122000017/pressrelease3272022.htm)). The audience followed. Wordle was played more than two billion times in 2022, according to head of games Jonathan Knight ([Digiday, March 2023](https://digiday.com/media/the-next-level-for-us-the-new-york-times-eyes-longer-play-sessions-for-games-in-subscription-drive/)). In March 2023, the paper claimed more than one million games-only subscriptions, sold at $5 a month or $40 a year ([Press Gazette, March 2023](https://pressgazette.co.uk/north-america/new-york-times-games-puzzles-wordle-subscriptions/)). The paper then built its own hits. Connections opened in beta on 12 June 2023 and became its second most-played game after Wordle, and the most successful in-house launch since the Mini Crossword in 2014 ([Nieman Lab, September 2023](https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/09/the-new-york-times-finds-a-match-with-the-word-game-connections/)). Knight summed up the strategy in one line: "Come for the news, stay for games." Play volumes have kept growing. According to the paper's year-end figures, more than 11.2 billion puzzles were solved on NYT Games in 2025: 4.2 billion Wordles, 1.6 billion Connections, 1.5 billion Strands and 1.4 billion Mini Crosswords ([TODAY, December 2025](https://www.today.com/popculture/hardest-wordle-connections-puzzle-2025-new-york-times-games-rcna251022)). On their own, those numbers say nothing about subscribers: they measure the size of the funnel, not its conversion. The portfolio also matters: Spelling Bee accounted for 667 million solves and Pips, launched in 2025, for 612 million. Each game reaches a slightly different audience, and together they give a reader several reasons to come back every day, not just one. ## How many subscribers does The New York Times have today? The official figures come from quarterly releases filed with the SEC, the US securities regulator. They cover all of the company's products, not games alone. | Date | Total subscribers | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | End of March 2022 | 9.1 million | Press Gazette | | End of 2022 | about 9.6 million | Digiday | | End of 2025 | 12.78 million | Q4 2025 release | | End of June 2026 | 13.35 million | Q2 2026 release | In 2022, the company set a goal of 15 million subscribers by 2027 ([Digiday, March 2023](https://digiday.com/media/the-next-level-for-us-the-new-york-times-eyes-longer-play-sessions-for-games-in-subscription-drive/)). According to the same Q2 2026 release, the company added about 280,000 net digital subscribers, and digital-only average revenue per user rose 3.1% year over year to $9.94 a month. ## Why is the bundle at the heart of the strategy? The New York Times no longer markets a news-only subscription: it pushes an "All Access" subscription that combines news, Games, Cooking, the Wirecutter buying guide and the sports outlet The Athletic. There are two reasons, and the company has stated both publicly. The first is retention. The company reports significantly better retention rates for subscribers who use several of its products ([Nieman Lab, February 2024](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/02/the-new-york-times-made-more-than-1-billion-from-digital-subscriptions-in-2023/)). At the end of 2023, 4.22 million digital subscribers, or 43%, were already on the bundle or multiple products. The second is revenue per subscriber. The fourth-quarter 2025 release breaks down average monthly revenue by digital subscriber category: | Category (Q4 2025) | Subscribers | Average monthly revenue | | --- | --- | --- | | Bundle and multiproduct | 6.48 million | $12.92 | | News-only | 1.47 million | $13.33 | | Other single-product (incl. Games) | 4.27 million | $3.36 | The "other single-product" category covers subscribers to just one of The Athletic, Audio, Cooking, Games or Wirecutter. A games-only subscriber brings in little on their own; their value lies in a possible upgrade to the bundle. After that quarter, the company said it would stop reporting this category breakdown. The end-of-2025 figures are therefore the latest available. ## Are games an on-ramp or a paid product? Both, and the balance keeps shifting. In November 2023, CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said non-news funnels, games first among them, were increasingly effective on-ramps to the bundle ([Nieman Lab, November 2023](https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/11/the-new-york-times-hits-10-million-subscribers-by-using-non-news-products-as-an-on-ramp/)). About 38% of subscribers were then on the bundle, and the company was aiming for more than 50%; by the end of 2025, the share was above half of digital subscribers. The paper mixes free and subscriber-only games. In summer 2025 it moved the Mini Crossword behind its paywall; a spokesperson said it now offered 10 distinct puzzles, with several remaining free to play for all ([MediaPost, September 2025](https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/408609/nyt-mini-crossword-ducks-behind-paywall.html)). Free games are also monetised through advertising, covered in the resource on [monetising online games](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/monetiser-jeux-en-ligne). The player account links the two. In 2023, the paper said it was focused on getting players to create New York Times accounts, in part so they could track their stats and streaks ([Press Gazette, March 2023](https://pressgazette.co.uk/north-america/new-york-times-games-puzzles-wordle-subscriptions/)). ## What can other publishers take from it? The NYT Games case is quoted often and rarely transferable as is. The New York Times has a global brand, an in-house games team and an English-speaking audience with no equivalent. Three mechanics remain useful at any scale: - **the free game as an appointment**: it draws an audience that would not come for the news, and brings it back every day; - **the account as a bridge**: streaks and stats give a reason to sign up, and sign-up opens the commercial relationship; - **the bundle rather than a games-only plan**: a single product brings in little; its value is in retaining the main subscription. Two caveats apply. The link between games and retention published by the paper is correlational: multi-product subscribers are also the most engaged to begin with. And the end of the category breakdown means the bundle share can no longer be tracked quarter by quarter. The resources on [audience retention](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/jeux-quotidiens-retention-audience) and [streaks](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/streaks-habitude-quotidienne) cover the mechanics to test on your own audience. ## Building the model without an in-house games studio The New York Times builds its games in-house, with teams of editors and constructors. For publishers without those resources, SIWA provides 16 daily games in French, word and logic, embedded by iframe on your own site, under your brand, with daily streaks, player accounts and an audience dashboard. Details are on the [pro page](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro). ## Sources 1. [The New York Times Company Reports Second-Quarter 2026 Results](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/71691/000007169126000032/pressrelease6302026.htm) The New York Times Company (SEC) · 2026-08-05 2. [The New York Times Company Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Results](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/71691/000007169126000008/pressrelease12312025.htm) The New York Times Company (SEC) · 2026-02-04 3. [The New York Times Company Reports First-Quarter 2022 Results](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/71691/000007169122000017/pressrelease3272022.htm) The New York Times Company (SEC) · 2022-05-04 4. [New York Times tops 9.1m subscribers as Wordle acquisition brings in 'tens of millions' of new users](https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/new-york-times-wordle-traffic/) Press Gazette · 2022-05-04 5. ['The next level for us': The New York Times eyes better retention for games in subscription drive](https://digiday.com/media/the-next-level-for-us-the-new-york-times-eyes-longer-play-sessions-for-games-in-subscription-drive/) Digiday · 2023-03-22 6. [Puzzled: How games help power The New York Times subscription model](https://pressgazette.co.uk/north-america/new-york-times-games-puzzles-wordle-subscriptions/) Press Gazette · 2023-03-23 7. [The New York Times finds a match with the word game Connections](https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/09/the-new-york-times-finds-a-match-with-the-word-game-connections/) Nieman Lab · 2023-09-06 8. [See the Hardest Wordle Puzzle of 2025 — That Ended 36,000 Streaks](https://www.today.com/popculture/hardest-wordle-connections-puzzle-2025-new-york-times-games-rcna251022) TODAY · 2025-12-29 9. [The New York Times hits 10 million subscribers by using non-news products as an on-ramp](https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/11/the-new-york-times-hits-10-million-subscribers-by-using-non-news-products-as-an-on-ramp/) Nieman Lab · 2023-11-08 10. [The New York Times made more than $1 billion from digital subscriptions in 2023](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/02/the-new-york-times-made-more-than-1-billion-from-digital-subscriptions-in-2023/) Nieman Lab · 2024-02-07 11. ['NYT' Mini Crossword Ducks Behind Paywall](https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/408609/nyt-mini-crossword-ducks-behind-paywall.html) MediaPost · 2025-09-01 ## Frequently asked questions
How many subscribers does The New York Times get from games? Its quarterly releases give no games-specific subscriber count; in 2023 the paper claimed more than one million games-only subscriptions. It reports total subscribers, 13.35 million at the end of June 2026, a large share of them on the bundle that includes games.
How much did The New York Times pay for Wordle? The exact amount was never disclosed: the company described it as a sum "in the low seven figures" in dollars when it bought the game in January 2022.
Are New York Times games free? Only some of them. Wordle and several other games remain free, while others are for subscribers; the Mini Crossword moved behind the paywall in summer 2025.
Can a smaller publisher copy this model? The mechanics carry over: a free game as an on-ramp, a player account, a bundle with the news. The volumes do not, and the effect on retention has to be measured on your own audience.
## Daily games on your site? Let's talk about your audience: we'll show you what SIWA can bring, with figures. [Email us](mailto:hello@siwa.io) [See the pro offer](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro) ## Read next [Monetisation

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One puzzle a day, short, the same for everyone: what data from The New York Times, The Times and French publishers says about games and reader loyalty.Read the article](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/jeux-quotidiens-retention-audience) [ Platforms

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What these platforms are after, and the figures they have published so far.Read the article](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/jeux-reddit-discord-communautes) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#identity","@type":"Organization","email":"hello@siwa.io","name":"SIWA","url":"https://dev.siwa.io/","logo":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#logo"}},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#website","@type":"WebSite","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"SIWA","url":"https://dev.siwa.io/","publisher":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#identity"}},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/nyt-games-abonnement#webpage","dateModified":"2026-10-27","datePublished":"2026-10-27","description":"Wordle, Connections and the bundle: using official figures, how The New York Times turned its games into an on-ramp to subscription and a retention lever.","name":"NYT Games: how games power The New York Times 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