Scrabble Goes Social with EA/Hasbro Partnership
July 10, 2008

Playing Scrabble on a social networking Web site is probably not what the game’s inventors had in mind 60 years ago, but that’s where we’re headed.

Video-games publisher Electronic Arts and toymaker Hasbro said this week announced their partnership’s first foray into online gaming with plans to launch a Scrabble on Facebook. The word game, which is already available on Pogo.com, will have an application on the social-networking Web site later this month, the companies said this week.

The partnership is another example of EA’s efforts to build sales by launching its games in a variety of formats. The company, which continues to be rebuffed in its continued bid for Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, this month will start cross-promoting its newest Madden NFL title on a new Warner Home Video release of National Football League highlights.

Also this week, EA said it will make three mobile games available on Apple’s App Store dedicated to iPhone and iPod users, including Tetris, Sudoku and, of course, Scrabble.

Still, such launches won’t stop EA from falling to its newfound position as the world’s second-largest games publisher. Vivendi said today that its games division completed its monster acquisition of Activision, creating Activision Blizzard, the world’s biggest games publisher.

Which brings to mind a word that would fetch 16 points on a Scrabble board: “BRIDESMAID.”

Posted by Danny King on July 10, 2008 | Comments (0)