Hasbro

DMW Vlog: Jeff Gomez on Creating Transmedia Experiences

Authored by Jay Baage on July 11, 2009 - 10:36am.

Los Angeles - Jeff Gomez, CEO, Starlight Runner Entertainment, is an expert at transmedia storytelling, incubating new entertainment properties, strategic planning and production for cross-platform implementation. He has worked on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, Microsoft's Halo, James Cameron's Avatar, Hasbro's Transformers, Mattel's Hot Wheels and Coca-Cola's Happiness Factory. In this exclusive DMW interview at the Nordic Lounge during E 3 Expo, he explains what a transmedia experience is and how these new experiences will transform the entertainment business, both from a creative and a business perspective.

Hasbro Completes Joint Venture Deal With Discovery

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 22, 2009 - 7:14am.
Silver Spring, Md. - Toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) said on Friday that it has completed a $300 million deal to buy half of a new joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASD: DISCA).

Discovery to Launch New Network with Hasbro

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 30, 2009 - 8:46am.
Silver Spring, Md. - Discovery Communications (NASD: DISCA), the owner of more than 100 cable TV networks, including the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet, said on Thursday that it has formed a joint venture with toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) for a new TV network and website devoted to children's entertainment.

Electronic Arts Creating Site for Hasbro's "Littlest Pet Shop"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 12, 2009 - 1:45pm.
Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) said on Thursday that it has signed a deal with toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) to develop an online entertainment and community destination for girls, based on Hasbro's Littlest Pet Shop brand. EA said its five Pet Shop-branded games have sold 2.8 million copies worldwide. The online community is set to launch in the fall of 2009.

Hasbro Drops Lawsuit Against Makers of "Scrabulous" Web Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 15, 2008 - 1:13pm.

New York - Toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) has dropped its lawsuit against the makers of "Scrabulous," Web knock-off version of the classic board game "Scrabble" that became wildly popular on Facebook, the Associated Press reported.

Mattel Gets "Scrabulous" Pulled From Facebook Overseas

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 11:50am.

New York - Following legal actions taken by toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) to get "Scrabulous," a Web knock-off version of its "Scrabble" removed from the Facebook social network in the U.S., Mattel (NYSE: MAT) -- which owns the rights to Scrabble outside of North America -- has compelled Facebook to take Scrabulous down in most of the rest of the world, the Associated Press reports. The one region where Scrabulous remains available in India, where developers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla reside -- but Mattel has filed suit against the brothers there as well.

Scrabulous Becomes "Wordscraper," Reappears on Facebook

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2008 - 7:03am.

Los Angeles - Scrabulous, the popular Web knock-off version of Hasbro's Scrabble on Facebook whose creators took the game down after being sued by Hasbro (NYSE: HAS), has relaunched on the social network as "Wordscraper," an essentially similar game that makes changes to its name and other characteristics. The move is no doubt aimed at testing the boundaries of copyright and trademark claims under current laws.

EA Claims Hackers Downed Facebook "Scrabble" Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 30, 2008 - 8:25am.

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) claims that malicious hackers were behind the inability to access its official "Scrabble" online game on the Facebook social network, which was downed yesterday and still unavailable on Wednesday morning, according to reports.

"Scrabulous" Knock-off Web Game Removed From Facebook

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 29, 2008 - 8:38am.

Los Angeles - "Scrabulous," the popular Web knock-off version of Hasbro's (NYSE: HAS) official "Scrabble" that was recently targeted with a copyright infringement lawsuit, has been removed from the U.S. and Canadian versions of online social network Facebook. "In response to a legal request from Hasbro, the copyright and trademark holder for Scrabble in the U.S. and Canada, the developers of Scrabulous have suspended their application in the U.S. and Canada until further notice," a Facebook representative told CNET News.com.

Hasbro Sues Makers of "Scrabble" Web Knock-off "Scrabulous"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 24, 2008 - 11:24am.

Pawtucket, R.I. - Toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) has taken its previous demands a step further and today filed a copyright infringement suit against the makers of "Scrabulous," a knock-off version of its "Scrabble" board game that counts over 510,000 daily active users on Facebook.

Electronic Arts to Launch Official "Scrabble" Game on Facebook

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 7, 2008 - 12:32pm.

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) said on Monday that it has partnered with toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) to launch a version of "Scrabble" for the Facebook social network and Pogo.com. The official version of the game will compete, however, with "Scrabulous," a knock-off version that counts millions of users. CNET News.com points out that the official Scrabble game on Facebook outside the U.S. (licensed in those regions by Mattel) claims fewer than 4,000 daily users.

Hasbro Looks to Shut Down "Scrabulous" Online Scrabble Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 14, 2008 - 1:18pm.

New York - Toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is seeking to shut down Scrabulous, the online version of its Scrabble board game that counts 2.3 million active users on Facebook and attracted 70 million page views in the past month, Fortune.com reports. Scrabulous co-creator Jayant Agarwalla told Fortune.com that ad revenues from the game are "over $25,000 a month." Hasbro did not respond to Fortune.com's request for comment on the matter.

Hasbro's Games Division Gets License for Rights to Skee-Ball

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 11, 2007 - 12:06pm.

East Longmeadow, Mass. - Toymaker Hasbro's games division said on Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year licensing deal for the rights to the popular arcade game, Skee-Ball. Hasbro expects to bring its first Skee-Ball branded products to market by early 2009.

tags: Games | Hasbro | Skee-Ball |

Electronic Arts to Publish Games Based on Hasbro Properties

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 10, 2007 - 2:34pm.

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts announced on Friday that it has signed a licensing deal with Rhode Island-based game and toy manufacturer Hasbro. The deal, which runs through 2013, gives EA exclusive worldwide rights to create digital games based Hasbro's intellectual properties, including "Monopoly," "Scrabble," "Yahtzee," "Nerf," "Tonka" and "Littlest Pet Shop." The first games for mobile, online, handheld, PC and console platforms are scheduled to launch next year.

Infogrames Sells Board Game Rights Back to Hasbro for $19.5 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 19, 2007 - 12:21pm.

Lyon, France - Struggling video game publisher Infogrames, the parent company of Atari, announced on Thursday that it has sold the digital gaming rights for Hasbro's "Monopoly," "Scrabble," "Clue," "Battleship" and other titles back to the toymaker for $19.5 million.

Perfomance Designed Products to Make NERF Video Game Controllers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 27, 2006 - 5:05am.
Los Angeles - Performance Designed Products, a manufacturer of accessories for video game systems and consumer electronics, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with toymaker Hasbro to develop a line of video game accessories based on its NERF brand. The first product under the deal is the NERF Wireless Controller, which will feature soft, durable foam as an outer casing. The $29 PlayStation 2 controller is scheduled to ship in the fall.

Encore Software to Develop PC Games for Hasbro Board Games

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 19, 2006 - 12:20pm.
Los Angeles - PC game publisher Encore Software announced on Wednesday that it has signed a multi-year agreement with toymaker Hasbro, to publish new PC software versions of popular board games including "Monopoly," "Scrabble," "Yahtzee," "Clue" and "The Game of Life." The first titles under the deal are slated to ship in the fall.

Hasbro Licenses Gesture-based Control Technology for Educational Device

Authored by dmw on May 12, 2006 - 12:02pm.
Toronto - GestureTek, a developer of gesture-based control systems for entertainment devices, announced on Friday that has licensed its technology to toymaker Hasbro's Playskool division for use with its Ion Educational Gaming System. Playskool's device consists of a camera that will capture children's movements and allow them to play educational games on the TV alongside children's characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. The game is expected to ship in August for $99, with additional Active Learning Discs to retail for $14.99.

Hasbro Multimedia Player to Offer Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon Content

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 14, 2005 - 6:53am.
Pawtucket, R.I. - Toymaker Hasbro's Tiger Electronics unit announced on Monday that it has signed license agreements with Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, to feature content from the networks' animated TV series on its new portable video player for the "tween" market, the VUGO Multimedia System. The $119 device, available this fall, will feature a 3-inch color screen and 128MB of memory to store TV shows, music and photos. Content available through the licensing deals will include episodes of "Dexter's Laboratory," "Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends," "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Danny Phantom" and "Jimmy Neutron."

Hasbro Buys Some Game Rights Back from Infogrames for $65 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 9, 2005 - 10:11am.
Pawtucket, R.I. -- Toymaker Hasbro announced on Thursday that it has reaquired the rights to develop video games based on its products from France-based Infogrames Entertainment -- the parent company of Atari -- for $65 million. The initial deal was struck in December 2000, between Hasbro Interactive and Infogrames' Games.com site. Hasbro said it has now entered into a new licensing agreement with Infogrames, giving the company rights to publish games based on ten Hasbro franchises. While Infrogrames and Atari will still publish titles based on Hasbro's "Dungeons and Dragons," and a range of board games like "Monopoly," "The Game of Life," "Clue" and "Battleship," Hasbro reacquired the video game rights to its "Transformers," "My Little Pony," "Connect Four," "Candyland" and other properties.
tags: Games | Hasbro | Infogrames |