Why UK Hasbro Pack is Missing Scrabble

On March 18th, Electronic Arts will be releasing the Hasbro Family Game Night on Xbox Live Arcade. The download provides a hub world where users can then purchase individual games at 800 points each. At launch, Battleship, Connect Four and Yahtzee will be available for purchase.

In America, however, gamers can also choose to download Scrabble. The press release states “Scrabble (North America only)”, with all other releases of the title missing the word hunting game. We contacted Electronic Arts for a statement.

“This collection of titles will be available in many international territories, with certain restrictions based on location – for example, SCRABBLE will only be offered in U.S. and Canada due to licensing rights”.

Delving into the matter, a tangled web of Scrabble’s heritage appears. In 1952, original rights owner James Brunot sold the manufacturing rights to Selchow and Righter in America, but JW Spears began selling the game in Australia and the UK in 1955. The American rights were eventually purchased by Hasbro (who are making the Xbox Live Arcade game), but the European and Australian rights were passed onto Mattel.

Looking at online retailer Amazon, all Scrabble board games are manufactured by Mattel. Furthermore, videogames based on the game (such as Ubisoft’s DS title) are licensed by Mattel.

Thanks to a tricky legal situation, there is no chance of seeing Scrabble on XBLA in Europe, unless Mattel is publishing.