After entertaining millions of users and wasting a countless number of office worker man-hours, the ultra-popular Facebook app Scrabulous looks to be nearing the end of its run on Facebook. Hasbro has filed suit against the developers, claiming that the game infringes on its Scrabble intellectual property. Earlier this month, Hasbro launched its own version of Scrabble on Facebook in partnership with Electronic Arts. The official version has already garnered about 20,000 total installs, according to app tracker Adonomics.
The lawsuit certainly isn't unexpected. Back in January, Hasbro requested that Facebook take the app down, but to no avail. And although there's been some grumbling on the Web (see the Facebook group "Save Scrabulous) about the big, bad corporation going after the little guys (Scrabulous was developed by two brothers based in Calcutta, India, one of which was a Scrabble superfan), Hasbro is obviously and completely within its IP rights -- Scrabulous is a straight-up copy of their game, and will be extremely stiff competition if they want to launch their own version (especially given the current version is a buggy beta, while Scrabulous has been time-tested).
But the question that Hasbro, and many other game companies, will have to answer in an age of easy access to the tools of game publishing is this: Is a takedown request and a lawsuit the best first option? Scrabulous has been installed on nearly 4 million Facebook profiles so far, and has over half a million daily active users. The back end is thoroughly tested and relatively bug-free, and has been brought off Facebook; players can play on Scrabulous.com, or over e-mail for players who have no interest in joining Facebook.
Scrabulous is arguably the best marketing campaign Scrabble has ever had. According to The New York Times, Hasbro and Mattel (which owns the IP rights to the game outside the U.S. and Canada) have declined to release sales numbers for the board game since Scrabulous launched, making it difficult to say whether the game has helped or hurt sales, but it can be said without a doubt that Scrabulous has made the game more popular.
Is it possible to have a middle ground between playing defense on intellectual property rights and allowing fans to exercise the increased creativity that the social Web allows? Surely Hasbro and Mattel could have approached Scrabulous' developers with an offer to purchase their completed product, rather than starting from scratch with a new and untested back end. Adonomics values Scrabulous at just over $2.7 million, and while that's a bit steep for development costs, surely the developers would prefer transfering their creation for cash rather than getting involved in a legal battle with Hasbro's legal team. So why not buy the game and user base and reward some superfans -- instead of letting the lawyers draw blood?
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The record labels have employed this tactic ad nauseum...sue those who have a better model and product than you. Rather than having the Big 4 labels buy out Napster when the technology was fresh, they did what they do best...whine and sue because they weren't innovative or creative enough to do it themselves. To all companies that feel this is the best course of action...welcome to the modern web, where you are not in control.
Hasbro had a better option...buy them out for a paltry sum and reward them for creating fresh fans.
Whether Hasbro and Mattel actually saw increased sales following the popularity of Scrabulous is immaterial, the question remains were they approached for permission to build on their IP?
That it is practical for Hasbro to not wage a public and legal war against two developers is without question. Because it is more than just a case of IP violation now, it's now about PR and public image. If I were Hasbro, I would apologise swiftly to the FB community, pay the brothers a handsome fee and take over the momentum. My only fear is, will it open the floodgates?
Ravi Kiran
Hans K. Meyer Ph.D. Student Missouri School of Journalism http://thecyberbrains.com
Scrabulous is far too valuable to the owners of the original IP. Scrabulous has the magic and the momentum. If history has its say Scrabble will not catch fire. Scrabulous has already become a recognized household term within the most influential online communities. People are actually addicted to it and talking about it regularly.
I think Hasbro would be foolish not to acquire Scrabulous. At $2.7 million its a bargain. At $5 million its still a good business deal for numerous reasons. I would even go out on a limb and say that Scrabulous can be worth $8-$10 million if you value them on the Facebook install base. That, combined with potential ad revenue on 500,000+ active daily users. Nice little network, eh?
What could possibly be better than teaming up with the fanatical game developer who has built and released a wildly successful version of the old popular board game he is fanatical about? Why now re-invent a perfectly good wheel. Especially, ones with all the chrome and polish you could only wish for.
Hey Hasbro! ... If you can't beat 'em (at your own game), join 'em.
Just sharing my thoughts,
Howard Koval Managing Partner, Executive Producer Hit Start www.Hit-Start.com
Did you do some research when writing this article to either Hasbro or the developers or did both refuse to comment.
Was it a case of they were made an offer, it was rejected so Hasbro went back to the drawing board to develop their platform from scratch or is there additional functionality in the Hasbro version?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Cheers, Dean Collins www.Cognationnet/profile