Spotify to Acquire Wordle-Inspired Heardle

Wordle’s popularity spawned dozens of lookalikes with some of them branching off in unique ways instead of just straight up copying the original hit. Heardle is one of those, a game which, as its name suggests, tasks players with figuring out what song is playing from only hearing part of it. It’s one of the Wordle imitators that’s stuck around due to its differences, and after apparently recognizing its potential, the music streaming company Spotify has announced its plans to acquire Heardle.

If you haven’t played Heardle before, you can find it here, and as Spotify outlined in its press release about the acquisition, the puzzler plays similarly to Wordle but with music instead of words. You’ll listen to just a second of a song and will make a guess. If it’s right, great, you win. If it’s wrong, you get to hear a bit more of the song until you either get it right or run out of your six guesses.

Spotify is already a pretty big, well-known company, so if you’re wondering why it needs or wants Heardle, the announcement addressed that, too. Spotify called it “a tool for musical discovery” and said it’s useful when it comes to rediscovering old songs or new ones you may have never heard before.

For those who’ve been playing Heardle and aren’t too keen on anything changing, Spotify said “the look and feel of the game will stay the same” and that it’ll still be free for everyone. The Spotify integration will come through the ability to listen to the full song for that day via Spotify.

“We are always looking for innovative and playful ways to enhance music discovery and help artists reach new fans,” said Jeremy Erlich, global head of music at Spotify. “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. Since its debut, the game has quickly built a loyal following, and it aligns with our plans to deepen interactivity across the Spotify ecosystem.”

Heardle will eventually be fully integrated into Spotify, too, with “other interactive experiences” like this one teased as well.