It seems the Wordle bubble has finally burst. Yesterday Spotify announced it would abandon its Wordle-alike browser game Heardle. The company is now part of a growing group of streaming companies that have started gaming services and later abandoned these products. After a quiet run for Spotify’s name-that-tune game, the company will be closing Heardle on May 5th, less than a year since the company purchased the game in July. This closure comes as a cohort of streaming companies are struggling to maintain their own gaming services.
Spotify released an opaque statement on the Heardle website that did not elaborate on the reasons for the game’s closure. “Thanks for playing Heardle,” wrote the company, “but unfortunately we have to say goodbye. From May 5th, Heardle will no longer be available.” The message went on to instruct players to save their stats by taking a screenshot before May 4th. By then, players who had tired of the New York Times’ Wordle and opted for Spotify’s musical version of the game will be out of luck.
Over the last few years, Spotify’s industry peers have tried to enter the video game industry to varying success. Google introduced their cloud gaming service Google Stadia in 2018, and it proved spectacularly unpopular. It was closed in January of this year, as the company explained “It hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected.” In 2020, Amazon launched Amazon Luna, similar cloud gaming platform that has also largely failed to gain traction. The platform had an ever-changing selection of games, which alienated many players. Most recently Netflix has begun releasing games as part of its Netflix Games service. The games are complimentary with a Netflix subscription, and many of them are based on Netflix properties. However, the service has been underpromoted, and many users are unaware of it. Spotify is the newest company to venture into gaming, and it has also been the fastest to close its services. It remains to be seen how many other Internet companies will attempt a similar venture.