Scrabulous under fire from Hasbro, Mattel
With 2.3 million active users, Scrabulous has become the Facebook application of choice for linguaphiles and procrastinators unlike. Unfortunately for its many, many fans, Scrabble publisher Hasbro has become a bit grumpy over the success of the free, unofficial clone of its bestselling game. CNN's Fortune blog reports that Hasbro's been trying to pull the plug, requesting that the web and Facebook versions of the clone be removed.
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]
