Whilst sitting through an ad break I was quite surprised to see that the popular Zynga game, "Words With Friends" has been released as an actual board game... Which I cannot see going down well with the folks over at Mattel, who own the Scrabble trademark worldwide, with the exception of the US and Canada (Where Hasbro hold the rights).
But what does this all mean?
Well, Words With Friends owes a lot of it's popularity to Scrabble. There can be no doubt about it. Being the only Scrabble clone that you can play on Facebook has allowed it to build an epic fan base and, the fact that they have now decided to hit the board game market suggests to me that any legal challenge Mattel has raised, has failed. Words With Friends it would seem is here to stay... But who will win out in the long run?
If I had to call it, I would have to say Mattel. I don't believe that they have the reach or resources that Zynga does but, Scrabble is so well seated in gaming culture that any clone, no matter it's fan base is going to have a hard time shaking it. Let's not also forget that the vast majority, if not all Words With Friends fans where Scrabble players first and foremost and, it's only truly Scrabble's lack of presence on Facebook (for some unknown reason) that attracted anyone to it in the first place.
So, to wrap it up, I think Words With Friends the board game will flop and, represents a great lack of good judgment on the part of Hasbro and Zynga. Only time will tell though.
What do you all think?
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