The New York Times is currently in the process of suing Microsoft and OpenAI, as ChatGPT allegedly uses its copyrighted works. However, the publication is busy suing much smaller companies for far less severe offenses. According to reports, the New York Times is suing companies making Wordle clones.
This is another example of large corporations using their massive weight and wealth to bully smaller entities. Soon after Wordle, the puzzle game where you have to get a secret word by using the process of elimination, took off back in 2021, the New York Times acquired it for a large sum of money. Obviously, since Wordle was a sensation, many small-time Developers made their own clones of it. However, many of the companies brought their own unique and fresh takes on the genre.
That doesn’t matter, as the New York Times is suing developers making Wordle clones
The large publication, according to the reports, has issued hundreds of copyright notices to developers making their own Wordle clones. Many of the companies making these clones are small-time developers relying on ad revenue to stay afloat. So, it’s a little scummy that a big-time corporation is suing them.
Undoubtedly, many, if not all of the developers, will have to fold in court, as the New York Times has plenty of money to outlast any lawsuit. This is a tactic used by all major companies. Only major lawsuits from multimillion or multi-billion-dollar companies ever make it to court. That’s one reason why the landmark Samsung vs. Apple lawsuit lasted so many years
This is scummy behavior
Realistically, The New York Times should not be distributing these lawsuits. For starters, the company owns the property of Wordle, not the genre of gameplay. That genre of gameplay existed many years before Wordle was created. Many of us remember playing similar games online or on portable consoles years ago. It is an entire genre of puzzle game. We can see if a developer used a similar logo or a similar font to what Wordle uses. However, most Wordle clones only nip the gameplay. Imagine if Nintendo sued every company that made a platformer.
Also, as pointed out by Matthew Schultz from Android Police, emulation is how the video game industry flourishes. One company invents a concept, but hundreds of other companies mold and innovate on that concept adding their own specific style and ideologies to it. This is what breeds growth in the gaming industry. Many early platformers emulated Super Mario. However, just look at where the platforming games are now.
The New York Times should not have the right to sue other companies making games in a specific genre. Other companies add their own flair and personality to the genre. Since Wordle was acquired by the New York Times, there has been little to no innovation in the game itself from the company. So, it’s very wrong for the New York Times to gate-keep this genre of game.
