Electronic Arts has signed an exclusive deal with Hasbro which will let EA “create electronic versions of Monopoly, Scrabble and an array of other Hasbro board games and toys” through to 2013. It’s being touted as a strong move by EA into the casual games space, although Hasbro does have a few decidely un-casual brands like Dungeons & Dragons and (dear to my heart) Risk. A full list of the Hasbro brands are here. EA’s “casual entertainment” division includes all its mobile games. The WSJ notes that some brands are already licensed out, and while EA will pick up those as they expire there will be a few exceptions, such as Transformers. Hasbro reckons EA is best placed to port its games onto all the digital platforms—and it’s probably right. Considering the large number of Hasbro brands and the number of digital platforms (PCs, consoles and all the mobile phones) there are very few companies who would be able to partner in this with Hasbro effectively. Mind you, it’s also significant that Hasbro has decided to lump all its eggs in one basket—a change from its previous strategy of different partners for different games. The games are due to start appearing next year.