Following the meteoric success of the popular word-centric app Wordle, similar trivia games have sprung up—Worldle, Nerdle, Wheeldle, and even an Absurdle. One offshoot in particular has caught the attention of music streaming juggernaut Spotify. The company announced on July 12 that it had acquired the Wordle-inspired auditory game Heardle, with plans to integrate Spotify into the offshoot. Like its predecessor Wordle, the game has its own website. Players guess the song of the day within six tries based on its opening notes, which increase in length after every incorrect guess. On the song’s reveal, players were previously linked to Soundcloud. Now, a link to the song listed on Spotify will appear in its place. The musical trivia puzzle remains to be Spotify’s sole game acquisition. For now, the company says it intends for Heardle to render a dual role: to keep music enthusiasts engaged and function as an instrument for music discovery.
“We are always looking for innovative and playful ways to enhance music discovery and help artists reach new fans,” said the global head of music at Spotify, Jeremy Erlich. “Heardle has proven to be a really fun way to connect millions of fans with songs they know and love and with new songs and a way to compete with their friends as to who has the best musical knowledge.”
Spotify has stated the game boasts millions of current players and have declined to disclose Heardle’s acquisition price at the time of this writing.
Heardle’s newly unveiled Spotify integration will begin in the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and rollout globally and in other languages at a later date.