Inside Facebook

A month after the Agarwalla brothers took Scrabulous offline in North America, Scrabulous has disappeared for Facebook users in the UK and Australia, and other locations around the world. The icon and link has been completely removed from bookmarks and the recently visited application list and, although a search for the game is still possible, the user is greeted by a page with the following message:

So – is Scrabulous gone for good, or will it be replaced by the less contentious Wordscraper in the near future as it was in the US and Canada?

Update: Jayant Agarwalla, one of the developers of Scrabulous, just issued the following statement:

Sometime on 22nd August, Facebook took the unfortunate decision to restrict most users from accessing Scrabulous. This was in response to Mattel sending them a “take down notice” on 14th August.

Mattel itself had approached the Indian Courts in February 2008, seeking an order for taking down Scrabulous from Facebook and other servers. The Hon’ble High Court has reserved judgment in this matter after hearing both parties. It surprises us that Mattel chose to direct Facebook to take down Scrabulous without waiting for the Hon’ble High Court’s decision. Mattel’s action speaks volumes about their business practices and respect for the judiciary.

It is even more astonishing that Facebook, which claims to be a fair and neutral party, took this step even though they were fully aware of the circumstances under which the Mattel letter was sent to them.

We now await the decision of the Hon’ble High Court and shall accordingly decide our future course of action with regard to Scrabulous.

We wish to thank our fans for their continued support and hope to give them the best results sooner than later.