More big name "news" sites are requiring logins new because 3rd party cookies are going away. If you login, however, the company has the right to track you because you agreed by signing-up. Instead of a 3rd party cookie, they simply track your surfing with your login and use that to show ads. Fox is converting many of their stories to "login required" for the same reason.
I assume that pushing user to make NYT accounts is why they brought the game in the first place.
It actually has a benefit in that your stats are saved with your account. As someone who has lost his history after purging my browser data it is a good idea.
