EA gets monopoly on Monopoly
Electronic Arts knows a thing or two about having a "monopoly," now they own the rights to it. A partnership between EA and Hasbro gives both companies the rights to dabble in each other's pool. EA gains "exclusive worldwide rights" to create games based on Hasbro products like Monopoly, Scrabble, Nerf, Yahtzee and basically anything else you probably remember from childhood. Hasbro will be able to make toys based on EA properties -- darn, we might actually pay for Spore mix and match figures if they make them. The deal runs until the end of 2013, with an option for another four years.
The partnership is part of the newly formed EA Casual Entertainment strategy. A whole division of EA fully focused on bringing high-end casual games to the mass market. This partnership may be a good thing for EA. Actually, they're the perfect company to handle putting games that haven't changed in a half-century on consoles, they've practically been doing the same thing with the Madden franchise for years.
