iOS 17.5 shows Apple follow the New York Times’ games strategy

Last week at the White House Correspondents Dinner, SNL’s Colin Jost joked about how The New York Times—the country’s most successful news publication—was only kept alive by Wordle and other puzzle games. The Times didn’t appreciate the remark.

Apple has clearly been paying attention to the Times’ success, though, as its latest strategy for boosting Apple News+ subscribers is a heaping dose of puzzle games. After launching crosswords last fall, another News+ game is on its way with iOS 17.5’s impending release: Quartiles.

Also noteworthy: both crosswords and Quartiles will be equipped with Game Center support in iOS 17.5. So much of Wordle’s initial popularity was tied to social sharing, and now in its own way, Apple is making it possible to play News+ games alongside your friends and in competition with others.

Will Apple’s games-focused strategy for News+ be successful? Here’s why it might.

Games as a booster of News+ subscribers

Services growth has become Apple’s most bankable success story of late, as last week’s earnings affirmed yet again. Though third-party services make up a major chunk of that revenue, Apple continues to push its own service offerings to users, especially the Apple One bundle.

Apple doesn’t release subscriber numbers, but the general perception is that Apple News+ is less of a bundle draw for users than some of its counterparts like Apple TV+ and Apple Music.

Boosting the value of News+ should not only lead to more individual subscribers, but also and especially it will make Apple One more enticing. It should come as no surprise, then, that Apple is following in the footsteps of the news industry’s biggest player.

Games have been a winning formula for the Times, so perhaps they will be for News+ too.

How games are already making a difference

I was surprised to learn recently that my wife has become a big fan of the News+ daily crosswords, especially the mini puzzles. In one of our semi-regular reviews of current subscriptions and what we can cancel, she advocated keeping our Apple One bundle. Normally I would be the one in favor of retaining any Apple-related subscriptions, but because of her newfound crossword habit, she became the family member who didn’t want to unsubscribe.

I could see this same story playing out across lots of other households, especially with Quartiles coming soon in iOS 17.5. The more attention and engagement News+ gets—even engagement that has nothing to do with the news—the harder it’ll be to cancel that subscription.

Because of this fresh News+ direction, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple give games get a dedicated app in the News app some time soon. The more Apple can retain users’ attention, the more great services numbers it can tout to Wall Street.

What do you think? Have you played any of the puzzle offerings in News+? Let us know in the comments.