EA Takes On Scrabulous With Pogo.com Scrabble

Electronic Arts has announced that its official Hasbro-licensed version of board game Scrabble has been released on its casual portal Pogo.com, and will be coming to social networking platform Facebook later this month, hoping to overtake the popularity of unofficial creation Scrabulous. EA notes that its version of Scrabble will be the first game in its licensing deal with Hasbro to go live on a social networking site, with a number of similar titles set to launch later this year. Currently, a number of the titles including Scrabble, Yahtzee and Monopoly have been released for the iPod. The two companies are hoping to stem the considerable growth of Facebook application Scrabulous, which was created by Calcutta-based brothers Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla without the license or consent of any trademark holders. Lawyers for Hasbro and Mattel ordered Facebook to remove the app in January, but to date the application still remains live, and earns the brothers a reported $25,000 in monthly ad revenue. Said EA Hasbro general manager Chip Lange, "Scrabble is one of the best social game brands in existence and we've worked diligently with the Hasbro team to ensure that regardless of the platform you're playing, you'll be able to enjoy a world class version of Scrabble with friends or family. We're delighted to be bringing communities everywhere access to one of their favorite games."