Spotify to Shut Down Heardle, the Wordle-like Music Puzzle Game
Spotify has declared the imminent closure of its well-liked daily music puzzle game, Heardle, scheduled for May 5th. The company acquired the game less than a year ago and integrated it into its platform as a way for users to discover new music and test their song recognition skills. However, Spotify has now decided to focus on other aspects of its service and will no longer support Heardle.
Heardle was created by computer programmer Tyler Adams in 2021 as a fun take on the viral word-guessing game Wordle. In Heardle, players are given six chances to guess a song based on increasingly longer snippets of music. With each round they advance through, participants are given feedback using colored squares: green indicates right guesses while gray denotes the wrong ones. The addictive nature of the game made it an instant hit among users.
Spotify's decision to acquire Heardlе in June 2021 seemed like a strategic move at the time. The streaming giant hoped that integrating this innovative puzzle format would help boost engagement with its platform while simultaneously encouraging people to discover new artists and songs through gameplay. After being added to Spotify's app, millions of subscribers took part in playing Heardlе daily.
Despite this initial success, Spotify has chosen not to continue supporting Heardlе any further after May 5th. This decision comes as part of the company's ongoing efforts to streamline its services and prioritize features that have more potential for driving user growth and retention over time. For fans who've grown accustomed to starting their day with a round or two of musical puzzling, this news may come as quite disappointing.
In conclusion, though Heardlе enjoyed significant popularity during its brief tenure within Spotify's ecosystem, it appears that sustaining this level of interest was ultimately not enough for the streaming service provider. Users looking for alternatives can still enjoy similar music-based games such as Name That Tune or SongPop. However, as of May 5th, Heardlе's unique blend of melody and mystery will be silenced for good.
