New York Times to shut down news department in favor of games

NEW YORK — The New York Times announced today that it will be shutting down its news department to focus on its more profitable enterprise: games.

The New York Times has been publishing news since 1851 and has since been a cornerstone of American journalism.

However, journalism has been at risk in recent years, with companies like Sports Illustrated and Insider experiencing drastic cuts in 2024. Other prominent papers, such as the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, have laid off many journalists in recent months.

In a statement, Times president and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien explained the decision was made to prioritize the health of the company as a whole.

“At its core, The New York Times is a business,” Levien said. “Sharing the news is secondary.”

Levien went on to say that she believes by pouring the company’s resources into NYT Games, the company will survive the death of journalism.

While the NYT Crossword has been around since 1941, the NYT Games division was founded in 2014. In its 10 years of existence, it has revitalized interest in the company, especially with younger audiences.

Everdeen Mason, the editorial director of NYT Games, took to X, formally known as Twitter, to share her excitement about the future of the department.

“This is the right move,” Mason said. “Totally unbiased, this is absolutely the right decision.”

In 2023, The New York Times’ games were played more than 8 billion times. Wordle, which NYT Games acquired, was the most played game with 4.8 billion times.

Mason said she hopes to acquire more games to add to the NYT Games library.

“We hope by 2025 all classic games will be played on our platform,” Mason said. “Checkers, chess, Monopoly? The sky’s the limit.”

While this move will result in around 1,700 journalists losing their jobs, Mason noted in her X post that this gives them the opportunity to find a more profitable career.

“Hopefully this move will help them take that jump into a new venture,” Mason said. “Who knows, maybe they’ll end up working for me.”

With the recent news of a TikTok ban by the federal government, Levien said she believes this decision comes at the perfect time.

“While we definitely did not have anything to do with this ban, The New York Times hopes that this will help us tap further into the Gen Z market,” Levien said. “We hope to dominate their screen time in due course.”

(This story was created as part of COMM 498 Humor in Journalism.)