Perhaps you've heard: Hasbro and Mattel are petitioning Facebook to pull down the wildly popular Scrabulous application, based on the popular board game Scrabble (both companies are involved because Hasbro owns rights to the game in the US and Canada; Mattel, a former client of mine, owns the rights everywhere else).
Scrabulous is one of Facebook's ten most popular applications. It has nearly 600,000 active users every day, out of over 2MM users who have the game installed. The application was not created by Facebook, but instead by two developers (and fans) out of Calcutta. Facebook is merely the distribution mechanism here.
Typically, one learns about Scrabble by playing at a friend's home (or perhaps your grandmother's), and then goes out and buys the game. One sale. For a lifetime. Suddenly, here come Scrabulous and Facebook, short-circuiting and supercharging this long purchase cycle by virally exposing new users to the joy of the game - and enabling many new gaming partners via the Internet. Voila, true game immersion, and in many cases, addiction.
Opportunity - missed?
Here's a chance for these two gaming icons to take the plunge into social media and networking. By purchasing the app or licensing the concept to these developers, Hasbro and Mattel could connect with a fanbase of over two million advocates and potential customers. They could drive purchase from those who've only known the game in the online world into the stores to buy the board version. Monetize the app, take advantage of online fan communities, and spread the word to prospects who otherwise would not be exposed to the game. A chance to leapfrog competitors into Facebook, one of the hottest online networks around. To use the app as an ad vehicle to promote other games.
Here's the other opportunity: to alienate two million hardcore fans. To be seen as a greedy, short-sighted and perhaps even frightened pair of companies. To drive prospects away from other Hasbro/Mattel products. Already, groups have formed on Facebook in an attempt by fans to save the Facebook game.
This isn't the first time Hasbro has shut down opportunities to drive sales. In 2005, the company pulled a similar stunt with a Google Maps mashup of the Risk board game.
I understand the need to defend trademark. But not taking advantage of this incredible sales opportunity? Risk, indeed.
We'll see what happens. Facebook may or may not cave: they're simply in the middle. But count me amongst the forehead-slappers if these two companies pass by this opportunity to remain firmly planted in Grandma's dusty old closet, guarded by lawyers, control issues and closed-mindedness.