Dodo Finance: New York Times takedown causes ripple effect affecting nearly 2000 Wordle clones

The New York Times Issues Takedown Notice to Wordle Clone, Reactle

The New York Times has issued a takedown notice to Reactle, a popular Wordle clone, resulting in the removal of approximately 1900 other versions of the game. Reactle, an open-source project created by Chase Wackerfuss, allowed users to create their own spin-offs of Wordle with variations in different languages or themed answers.

Following the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice, the code repository for Reactle is no longer available on Github. The NYT’s notice claimed that the gameplay was copied exactly, leading to hundreds of knock-off games being published and subsequently removed by the company.

Github has been instructed to delete any projects that have forked Reactle due to copyright infringement concerns. Among the knock-off games affected by the takedown notice are Colordle, which tests color knowledge, and Squirdle, a game testing Pokémon knowledge.

The New York Times has been actively cracking down on Wordle clones since acquiring the original game in 2022. Previous actions include shutting down Wordle Archive and introducing a new game called Connections, described as “unique” and “handcrafted”.

The takedown of Reactle and its spin-offs highlights the ongoing battle against copyright infringement in the world of online games. As companies continue to protect their intellectual property, creators are urged to respect copyrights and create original content to avoid similar legal actions.