Joanna Keane

It was actually created by a software engineer called Josh Wardle.

He launched it in 2021.

Now, don't forget that was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said he got messages with people saying, look, it's uniting distant families.

It's also provoking friendly rivalries.

So after this surge in popularity, it was acquired by The New York Times in 2022.

Undisclosed seven figure sum.

We don't we don't know exactly how much.

So ever since then, it's been really popular.

So NBC have come along and thought, right, let's turn this into a game show.

They describe it as a battle of smarts, speed and fun, whatever you make of that.

It's going to be aired next year.

There'll be teams of three players going head to head to win cash prizes.

Now, we also know it's going to be hosted by the NBC news anchor Savannah Guthrie.

She's recently been in the public eye because her mother was very sadly abducted at the end of January and she's been appealing for information.

And it'll be produced by a company belonging to the NBC host Jimmy Fallon.

So some really high profile figures involved here.

For NBC, this makes sense because Wordle's loved by so many, it's going to make it into a popular game show.

For the New York Times, it reflects its ambition to expand its content beyond traditional news.

Well, NBC are hoping that they'll get excited, but a bit of a mixed response on social media from fans.