Music streaming giant Spotify has announced that it will be shutting down Heardle, the popular music guessing game that it acquired last year. Similar to the popular game Wordle, Heardle gave players six chances to guess a popular song by listening to its intro and guessing the artist and title. However, the company has decided to sunset the game on May 5th to focus on its other objectives around music discovery. Spotify's decision came after it rolled out a significant redesign of its mobile app experience last month, introducing new TikTok-style discovery feeds for music and podcasts and other features like Smart Shuffle for playlist recommendations, podcast autoplay option, and an AI DJ that plays music based on user preferences.
The company had earlier stated that Heardle would remain free to play for everyone after its acquisition. However, Spotify is now looking to devote more energy towards music discovery through its recent app changes, rather than through Wordle-inspired gameplay off-platform. Spotify's decision is also in line with recent belt-tightening measures taken by many tech companies, including layoffs in recent months. There is less of a financial incentive to dabble with side projects like a fun music game, making Heardle's ongoing maintenance no longer a solid bet.
Heardle had been fairly popular at the time of its acquisition, with the game peaking at 69 million monthly desktop and mobile web visits in March 2022, according to data from web analytics firm Similarweb. However, after the deal with Spotify, those visits had dropped to 41 million. It's possible that these visits had continued to decline, making Heardle's ongoing maintenance no longer viable. Additionally, with much of the Wordle craze also trending down after The New York Times bought the flagship word game in January of last year, Heardle's own future prospects may have been dimming too.
In the game, after users guessed the song, they could click a button to listen to the full track on Spotify. However, it's possible that not enough users did so, instead of just exiting the game to play again later. Spotify's redesign included many features similar to those offered by Heardle, making it less relevant to Spotify's music discovery efforts.
Although Spotify has decided to sunset Heardle, the company is not necessarily giving up on other interactive experiences. It currently offers interactive features like polls and Q&As, which let podcast listeners engage with their favorite creators, and the AI DJ feature, which plays music based on user preferences. It will also continue to invest in other gaming projects, such as its Spotify island on Roblox, its in-app gaming hub, and other integrations with Xbox and PlayStation. Earlier this month, the company also shut down another side project, Spotify Live, its livestreaming app, and Clubhouse rival.
In conclusion, while the decision to sunset Heardle may come as unwelcome news to its loyal users, it reflects Spotify's renewed focus on improving its music discovery features. The company remains committed to delivering innovative interactive experiences to its users, and we can expect to see more of these in the future.
