It is no surprise that New York Times is launching a new game because as in the last few years it has transitioned its focus from News to Games. Some say the NYT is becoming more of a game company than a news publisher. It’s gaming portfolio has ben expanding with games such as Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Strands etc. The latest addition is Zorse.
What is Zorse
Zorse is a term created by joining Zebra and Horse together a.k.a a Zebra horse. It is a phrase guessing game where puzzles are mashup of two popular phrases, at the moment the game is authored/edited by Christina Iverson. Zorse currently in beta mode like other games have been in the past. The Times is hoping that the game is loved by enough players to keep it going. If the game connects with a large audience than the future is bright for it. We hope it would continue and not be discontinued like Digits.
A shift in Games
The New York Times is betting big into online puzzle games. Puzzles in general have been an unexpected asset for many newspapers (TheGuardian, The Sun, USAToday) and NYT is no exception. As said earlier, The new york times is more a gaming company given the traffic the games receive. A game that exploded was Wordle, a pandemic-created game that went viral and company acquired for about $1M