"I'm the Wordle guy" looks good on a CV.

https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768?lang=en

https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-logic-behind-Google-rejectin...

Millions.

>I think most people would just fizzle out rather than pay $1

You'd be surprised. Flappy Bird had no such problem - and tons of other small viral hit apps. The problem for the vast majority of apps is becoming that known and having as many users interested - this one has solved that already.

Flappy bird was free on release.

If he charges $1, that's $0.70 per user after the app store takes it cut. He could clear just under a million if half of the player base chooses to buy it. Then take off about half for taxes and whatever, and you have somewhere in the neighborhood of $475k.

If he adds a simple banner ad at the bottom, I don't know how that would translate.

And as for opportunities, I'm not sure either. Yes, it's popular. But, at the end of the day, it's Mastermind with letters. Sure, clever, fun, and all that, but you could clone this relatively easy. It doesn't really speak to his ability to write or design software.

I don't think he should monetize it in any way. He didn't set out to start a game development business. I'm also really questioning the baseline numbers and averages used in your example.

For those conversions, is that when there's both a free version and a paid version?

Regardless, even with half of his users, it's a decent chunk of change, but it's not "fuck you" money.

I agree on why folks like it. Is a fun shared exercise.

And it is the unique way of sharing that makes it popular with this crowd. This is a game that is fun to share, and does not ask for permission to my accounts to make that share.