Scrabulous under fire from Hasbro, Mattel
by Scott Jon Siegel 
{ Jan 17th 2008 at 8:00AM }
Hasbro owns all distribution rights for Scrabble in the United States. Mattel, who owns the rights for all other parts of the world, has only recently joined in the fight, placing further pressure on Scrabulous' developers, who are based out of Calcutta.
At the moment, EA currently has a contract deal with Hasbro to develop and distribute digital versions of its games, including Scrabble. One commenter on CNN's post, who claims to represent Hasbro, stated that EA is currently developing a digital version of Scrabble, and that Scrabulous' execution raised heads after being strikingly similar to the version in production. Whether or not this is true, we hope that some sort of agreement can be reached that can keep the Facebook app afloat.
Read - "Will someone please start a Facebook group to save Scrabulous?" [CNN Fortune]
Read - "Facebook asked by Mattel to remove Scrabulous" [CNet]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
latinopassio @ Mar 20th 2008 7:36PM
Its strange the paying site wasn't up to scratch and here a free site to serve poor guys like us whose currency isn't as strong as the dollar- freely benefit from social interaction skill and language dev etc- They weren't in it for the money- just for the luv of it- now that the public has benefited equally HAsbro and MAtel wants to score a triple quick buck on our benefactors and run to court and sue etc unfortunately so typical of some western mindsets - Waiting for u to shoot yer blanks! Be smart and offer something better and can u afford free playing patronage???
Anticapitalist!
Balla360 @ Jan 17th 2008 8:22AM
Rake 'em over the coals. There's no excuse for IP abuse.
t_m @ Jan 17th 2008 10:35AM
I dunno why they don't just ink a deal and share the profits...
.. leaping for lawyers FIRST always seems counterproductive for everyone (except lawyers)
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 17th 2008 11:06AM
Because scrabulous doesn't produce any profits.
Morgon @ Jan 17th 2008 8:33AM
What's the difference between this, and say, Yahoo Literati?
The concept and execution is quite similar to the wood-and-cardboard version.
t_m @ Jan 17th 2008 10:36AM
THe name. As soon as i saw it i wondered why they hadn't been sued yet...
WiNG @ Jan 17th 2008 11:26AM
Scrabulous is an exact copy of Scrabble.
Literati is a LITTLE different, with different positions for the word/letter multipliers, etc.
Buckshot @ Jan 17th 2008 8:50AM
Oh no! It looks like the pedos will have to find another way to waste time while scanning for kids.
rTwelve @ Jan 17th 2008 10:24AM
I think you got your social networks confused. These are all college students, including myself. Your joke is a failure.
Buckshot @ Jan 17th 2008 11:34AM
No that's all social networks, you must be the failure. Dress up nice for your daddy...
Ethan @ Jan 17th 2008 11:48AM
The way Facebook is structured makes it far more gear towards having friends who are people you know. The 'pedos' you seem to think are in abundance would only see a tiny picture, because you can't see the profiles of people who aren't in your 'network.'
I could have just branded you a reactionary moron and have done with it though.
MadMup @ Jan 17th 2008 10:21AM
Scrabulous is a fantastic realization of easy-to-play online Scrabble, with the "play when you can" mechanic being particularly handy. I've often wondered why they hadn't been sued yet.
Literati's a bit different in that the board layout and letter points aren't the same - which, for a Scrabble die-hard, makes it not as fun.
Easy solution for all involved: Hasbro buys Scrabulous, slaps the official logo on it, and doesn't mess around with what makes it great.
Never happen, but a guy can dream.
Ethan @ Jan 17th 2008 11:45AM
Scrabulous gets ad profits, I think. They should be making a deal to get those profits, and the developers should've asked first. But ZOMG TAKEDOWN is not the answer.
And it's a great game.
Saria the Cat @ Jan 17th 2008 12:46PM
There's actually another uncannily-similar digitized version of Scrabble that is free PC software to download and allows free online multiplayer. And this version is EXACTLY like Scrabble and doesn't even try to be different, which Scrabulous kind of does using its different turn-based player action stuff. I think it's great to be able to play Scrabble (or a game with similar principles) online with people. Not our fault the real game makers are slow on the uptake AND would charge $40-50 for that kind of software.
Abscissa @ Jan 17th 2008 5:39PM
This is just like Hasbro, not the first time they tried to pull this sort of bullshit. Anyone remember Hasbro Interactive?
ThornedVenom @ Jan 17th 2008 7:02PM
Do they have an official Scrabble application on Facebook?
If not, the problem might not lie in the offer but on the demand.
ScrabbulousGirl @ Jan 20th 2008 2:28PM
Hasbro is being ridiculous. It's not like they aren't already rich enough huh? The fact of the matter is that scrabulous has done something for the game that hasn't been done in years and that is rejuvenate it. I personally have bought several more board games since finding scrabulous online, and I have seen many others in petitions that have said the exact same thing. I know my opinion may not count, but Hasbro has made itself look like a jackass and many people are being turned off by their choices. It's extremely sad that a game that is NOT hurting their profits has to be taken away. Hasbro I hope you are happy and I hope you lose a lot of sales due to your greediness.