Electronic Arts Launches Scrabble, Starts Buying Installs

Last week there was a lot of buzz about the new version of Scrabble launching on Facebook. This week the application went live and it looks like Electronic Arts and Hasbro are putting significant resources into driving traffic to the application. Yesterday I checkout the application and it had 70 active users and around 250 total installs. Today, the application has 1,838 active daily users. My guess is that we’ll see this number increase over the coming days.

The real question is if the application can reach the more than half a million active users that Scrabulous has every day. Rather than spend the money on lawyers to sue the Scrabulous team, Electronic Arts and Hasbro decided to build their own version and try to compete directly with the Scrabulous team. It will take a few weeks before we find out how well the company is competing but my guess is that they have a chance.

I definitely don’t think the company will be able to beat them though. The new version of Scrabble is flash based and a lot slicker than the original Scrabulous, but Rajat and Jayant (the developers of Scrabulous) have done a great job building a solid user base that returns regularly to the game. Do you think Electronic Arts has a chance of challenging the Scrabulous team?

Scrabble Application Logo

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13407 Comments2008-07-15+16%3A35%3A43Nick+O%27Neill »

I assumed that they planned to build their version of Scrabble, and then step up the suing of Scrabulous until it is shut down. Otherwise it'd just remove Scrabulous and they wouldn't get anything out of it except ill-will from users.

Comment by David — July 15, 2008 @ 11:12 am
I assumed that they planned to build their version of Scrabble, and then step up the suing of Scrabulous until it is shut down. Otherwise it'd just remove Scrabulous and they wouldn't get anything out of it except ill-will from users.

Comment by David — July 15, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
I definitely think they have a chance. Not only through the legal option David mentions in the above comment, but because many users have a bad taste in our mouths from the early months of Scrabulous. Server and functionality challenges were the norm for months, followed by unpleasant associations with people using the game for purposes other than scrabble play. If the new version provides a better UX, I'll definitely use it over Scrabulous.

Comment by Alex — July 15, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
I definitely think they have a chance. Not only through the legal option David mentions in the above comment, but because many users have a bad taste in our mouths from the early months of Scrabulous. Server and functionality challenges were the norm for months, followed by unpleasant associations with people using the game for purposes other than scrabble play. If the new version provides a better UX, I’ll definitely use it over Scrabulous.

Comment by Alex — July 15, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
"The new version of Scrabble is flash based and a lot slicker than the original Scrabulous"I have not tried the new Scrabble yet, but Scrabulous is ALSO FLASH BASED…

Comment by Raphael — July 16, 2008 @ 4:17 am
"The new version of Scrabble is flash based and a lot slicker than the original Scrabulous"

I have not tried the new Scrabble yet, but Scrabulous is ALSO FLASH BASED…

Comment by Raphael — July 16, 2008 @ 5:17 am
[...] the developers behind the popular Scrabulous application. Just last week the company launched the legitimate version of Scrabble on Facebook. The application has attracted over 8,000 active daily users so far but it will be a [...]

Pingback by Scrabble Sues Scrabulous — July 25, 2008 @ 10:32 am

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I assumed that they planned to build their version of Scrabble, and then step up the suing of Scrabulous until it is shut down. Otherwise it'd just remove Scrabulous and they wouldn't get anything out of it except ill-will from users.

Comment by David — July 15, 2008 @ 11:12 am

Comment by David — July 15, 2008 @ 12:12 pm

I definitely think they have a chance. Not only through the legal option David mentions in the above comment, but because many users have a bad taste in our mouths from the early months of Scrabulous. Server and functionality challenges were the norm for months, followed by unpleasant associations with people using the game for purposes other than scrabble play. If the new version provides a better UX, I'll definitely use it over Scrabulous.

Comment by Alex — July 15, 2008 @ 2:14 pm

Comment by Alex — July 15, 2008 @ 7:14 pm

"The new version of Scrabble is flash based and a lot slicker than the original Scrabulous"I have not tried the new Scrabble yet, but Scrabulous is ALSO FLASH BASED…

Comment by Raphael — July 16, 2008 @ 4:17 am

"The new version of Scrabble is flash based and a lot slicker than the original Scrabulous"

I have not tried the new Scrabble yet, but Scrabulous is ALSO FLASH BASED…

Comment by Raphael — July 16, 2008 @ 5:17 am

[...] the developers behind the popular Scrabulous application. Just last week the company launched the legitimate version of Scrabble on Facebook. The application has attracted over 8,000 active daily users so far but it will be a [...]

Pingback by Scrabble Sues Scrabulous — July 25, 2008 @ 10:32 am