Plants vs. Zombies (video game)

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense video game in which the player defends their suburban home from zombies. The lawn is divided into a grid, There are also support plants with creative abilities. Different types of zombies have their own special behaviors and their own weaknesses to different plants. Positioned at the left end of each lane is a single-use lawnmower, pool cleaner, or roof cleaner; if a zombie reaches this end, these will activate and kill all zombies in that lane. After completing the Adventure mode, the player can choose to play it again, this time with plants unlocked from the previous play-through, along with three randomly selected plants to begin each level.—often variants of a conveyor belt that gives the player certain plants. ==Development==

Concept Plants vs. Zombies was designed by George Fan. Imagining a more defense-oriented version of one of his previous titles, Insaniquarium (2001), and having played some Warcraft III tower defense mods, he was inspired to make a tower defense game. Fan considered a sequel to Insaniquarium for the Nintendo DS where each screen would represent a separate fish tank—one on top of the other. Aliens would attack the top fish tank and, if successful, would break into the bottom fish tank. Gameplay in the top tank would focus on defense against the aliens, while in the bottom tank it would revolve around resource generation, akin to Insaniquarium. Enemies were at first the aliens from Insaniquarium, but while Fan was sketching concept art, he drew what he considered "the perfect zombie", and the theming was reworked. The use of multitasking between lanes was influenced by and was featured prominently in the old arcade game Tapper. There were many other candidate names, including Residential Evil and Bloom & Doom, the latter of which was used as the branding on the in-game seed packets. Design Plants vs. Zombies was initially designed by Fan alone. Plants vs. Zombies was made using PopCap Games's own engine: PopCap Framework. Characters Early in the development of Plants vs. Zombies, time was spent brainstorming ideas for characters. Fan expressed fondness for the Tall-Nut, Torchwood, and Cob Cannon plants. He liked the Tall-Nut's character, citing its "determined gaze" and its shedding a single tear when hurt. In terms of strategy, he liked that the Torchwood—which gives Peashooters flaming ammunition—required the player to consider how plants interact with each other. A proposed plant would have been placed above other plants to protect them from Bungee and Catapult Zombies; it was difficult, however, to visualize this plant's position. Many potential plants had concept art but were not in the final Plants vs. Zombies. The zombie was present in the game before his death, but the entertainer's estate objected to its inclusion over a year following his death; PopCap replaced it with a more generic disco-dancing zombie. Many other zombies were cut during development. Film music scholar K. J. Donnelly found the music to be bright and "cartoonish". He noted the music was not dynamically tied to gameplay, but instead progresses independently. He noted the soundtrack's design in a progressive style, "almost in parallel to the unfolding of the game[play]". Shigihara described the music as "macabre, yet goofy". Examining the night stages, she explained that she used a combination of big band swing beats with "several haunting and serious melodies". The songs "Loonboon" and "Brainiac Maniac" were written towards the end of production. Shigihara said these were reactionary songs she wrote to fit the game's feel after playing it through twice. Shigihara composed and performed the music video shown during the game's credits, titled "Zombies on Your Lawn". The song was inspired by "Still Alive", which played at the end of the video game, Portal. Plants vs. Zombies tracks were eventually released as part of a downloadable soundtrack album. ==Promotion and release==

On April 1, 2009, PopCap released a music video for "Zombies on Your Lawn" to promote Plants vs. Zombies. While many PC gamers were unsure if the video was an elaborate April Fools' Day joke, PopCap spokesperson Garth Chouteau revealed in an IGN interview that the game would soon be released for PC and Mac. On April 22, 2009, PopCap released an official game trailer of Plants vs. Zombies on YouTube. PopCap Games released a demo version on May 4, 2009, permitting thirty minutes of gameplay. Plants vs. Zombies was officially released for PC and Mac on May 5, 2009, along with the demo being replaced by a version where the player can play up to level 34. A free Adobe Flash version of Plants vs. Zombies was released on September 23, 2009. A Game of the Year edition was released in July 2010. It was made available on Steam on August 10, 2010; anyone who already purchased the game could update to the new edition for free. The Game of the Year edition adds in a "Zombatar" feature allowing the player to customize a zombie's face. The edition also supports Steam Cloud, which lets the player access game save data from multiple computers. They announced the port's release date on a trailer on YouTube in February 2010, officially releasing it on February 15, 2010. The port included a modified interface for iPhone users and a Quick Play mode allowing the player to play any level in Adventure mode; it removed the Mini-Games, Puzzle, and Survival modes. In March 2010, a technology blog named PadGadget found unintentionally public entries for ports of iPhone games to the iPad, Plants vs. Zombies among them. The game's iPad port, named Plants vs. Zombies HD, was released on April 5, 2010. It utilized the iPad's 11 touch sensors and restored the Survival mode and the Mini-Games mode, which includes an iPad-exclusive mini-game called "Buttered Popcorn". Subsequent iOS updates would add more content to their version of Plants vs. Zombies, including Zen Garden, additional mini-games, and additional achievements. In May 2011, PopCap Games officially announced that Chuzzle would be available on the Amazon Appstore for Android devices for the next two weeks, with Plants vs. Zombies becoming available later in the month. They were both free on launch day and cost $2.99 after. On May 31, 2011, Plants vs. Zombies entered the Amazon Appstore. In December 2011, PopCap Games announced it would be releasing Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle through the Android Market. It was made available on Google Play Store on December 15, 2011. Plants vs. Zombies has been ported to other mobile devices. On June 23, 2011, the game was released on the Windows Phone as part of Xbox Live. On November 14, 2011, and January 30, 2013, Plants vs. Zombies was released on the Kindle Fire and Blackberry 10 respectively as a launch app. Plants vs. Zombies was later released on another BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry Playbook. Plants vs. Zombies was released on Nook HD and Nook HD+ on November 14, 2012. Console versions Plants vs. Zombies was announced for the Xbox 360 in July 2010, to be available both on its own and as part of a bundle with Peggle and Zuma. To ease use with the Xbox controller, the cursor was locked onto the lawn's grid pattern and sun would float towards the cursor. The port also featured Versus mode, a Co-op mode, and a new level in Mini-Games mode. The zombie player's goal is reaching the house, while the plant player aims to kill three of the five target zombies on the right side of the lawn. with Sony Online Entertainment as its publisher and was released on February 8, 2011. The DS port of Plants vs. Zombies was announced in August 2010. The port was released on January 18, 2011, in North America and on May 6, 2011, in Europe and Australia. The port included the Zombatar feature and the versus mode from the Xbox Live version, also adding four exclusive mini-games. On March 14, 2011, the DSiWare port was released in North America. It was released on May 6, 2011, in Europe and Australia. The DSiWare version only kept the Adventure mode and Mini-Games mode; the mini-game levels consisted of the exclusive levels from the original DS and a new level called "Zombie Trap". It was released on February 21, 2012, in North America, and in Europe as a launch title on February 22, 2012; with Sony Online Entertainment serving as its publisher. ==Reception==

Sales On May 20, 2009, Plants vs. Zombies was declared the fastest-selling video game created by PopCap Games, quickly becoming their best-selling video game; surpassing their previous popular games: Bejeweled and Peggle. Fan estimated half of sales came from hardcore gamers. Larry Hryb, director of programming for Xbox Live, reported that Plants vs. Zombies was the thirteenth most purchased 2011 game on Xbox Live Arcade. Plants vs. Zombies was particularly successful on the App Store. According to PopCap, the iOS release of Plants vs. Zombies sold more than 300,000 copies during its first nine days, generating more than $1million in gross sales. It rose to number one in sales and money grossed from a mobile video game before losing the spot nine days after release. , nine million copies have been downloaded across all iOS platforms. Critical reviews Plants vs. Zombies received positive reviews. According to Metacritic, the only version that did not receive "generally positive reviews" or "universal acclaim" is the DSiWare version, which received "mixed or average reviews". Some reviewers found the core mechanic straightforward, but the game itself challenging. Others disagreed: John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun said the difficulty sometimes felt artificial. Despite his criticism of the game's difficulty, Watters praised Plants vs. Zombies constant introduction of new plants, which kept the game fresh. some had believed the entire Adventure mode was a long tutorial, or a warmup, for other game modes. In contrast, Walker found the soundtrack "disappointing" and stated, "After the promise of the gorgeous music video, the hope of similarly catchy in-game tunes is not kept." Many reviewers praised the iPad port's inclusion of the Mini-Games mode and the Survival mode, along with "Buttered Popcorn", the exclusive mini-game. The Nintendo DS port was commended for its four new mini-games and its versus mode from the Xbox 360 version, but was considered inferior in its animation and graphics. The port was also criticized for its comparatively high price, for the DS top screen's sole usage as an indicator of level progression, and for unstable frame rate. Many critics found the PS Vita version faithful to the PC version, though unsure about whether or not there enough significant additions in this version to recommend to someone who already has Plants vs. Zombies on another platform. Ultima creator and mogul Richard Garriott said in 2011 that Plants vs. Zombies was his favorite game of all time. Awards Plants vs. Zombies was nominated for various categories in the GameSpot Best of 2009, 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, ==Legacy==

George Fan's layoff and Octogeddon PopCap Games and its assets were bought by EA on July 12, 2011, for $750million. Fifty employees were laid off from PopCap Games' Seattle studio on August 21, 2012, marking a switch of focus to mobile and social gaming. After a statement by Edmund McMillen, creator of The Binding of Isaac, rumors circulated that Fan was fired by EA because he opposed implementing pay-to-win mechanics in Plants vs. Zombies 2. Fan confirmed in a 2017 tweet that he had been laid off, and that he opposed the freemium aspects of Plants vs. Zombies 2, but did not link the two events. Three former PopCap employees have argued against the notion that Fan was fired because of his concerns over the game, including Allen Murray, a former producer of Plants vs. Zombies 2. They said Fan was fired as part of the systematic lay-offs in August 2012, and he was not even part of the Plants vs. Zombies 2 team; he was working on other ideas for games at the time, including a game called Full Contact Bingo. He had lost interest in Plants vs. Zombies when EA began envisioning the game as a huge franchise. initially as part of a Ludum Dare contest. The game idea was received positively and Fan formed a company along with Werner, the artist of Plants vs. Zombies, and Kurt Pfeiffer, the programmer of the Xbox 360 port. They developed Octogeddon for several years, releasing it on February 8, 2018, to generally positive reviews, according to Metacritic. Sequels and spin-offs Since EA's acquisition of PopCap Games, Plants vs. Zombies has expanded into a franchise spanning many consoles and several genres. Plants vs. Zombies Adventures, a spin-off and social game, was released for Facebook on May 20, 2011, and closed on October 12, 2014. A mainline sequel named Plants vs. Zombies 2 was released for iOS on August 14, 2013. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, a multiplayer third-person shooter, was released on February 25, 2014, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Xbox One, and its sequel was released on February 23, 2016, for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A digital collectible card game, Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, was released internationally for the iOS on October 18, 2016. The franchise released its third third-person shooter, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, on October 18, 2019, for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A third mainline title is currently in development for Android and iOS as of October 2020. According to Metacritic, nearly all the sequels and spin-offs of Plants vs. Zombies received generally positive reviews. Despite his opposition to Plants vs. Zombies 2 freemium model, Fan has praised the series for delving into different genres, particularly Plants vs. Zombies Heroes entering digital card-collecting; he hopes EA will continue the series into more genres while keeping the charm of the original. During the development of Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball FX 2, Zen Studios and PopCap made a downloadable content (DLC) interactive pinball table based on Plants vs. Zombies and using PopCap assets. The DLC was released on September 4, 2012, in North America and September 5 in Europe. In July and August 2013, Dark Horse Comics released six issues of a comic book adaptation miniseries onto an iOS app. The miniseries was called Lawnmageddon, written by Paul Tobin and drawn by Ron Chan. Dark Horse Comics continued releasing issues for the next two years. In 2015, Dark Horse Comics started a monthly release of the comic series, in both digital and print; every three issues formed a separate miniseries, with the first called Bully for You. Characters from the comic series were adapted into Plants vs. Zombies 3. According to Chris Carter, editor-in-chief of Destructoid, Plants vs. Zombies is frequently referenced in pop culture. Fan said his favorite homage to the game is the Magic: The Gathering card "Grave Bramble", created as part of the Innistrad expansion. A re-creation of Plants vs. Zombies was added as a mini-game quest known as "Peacebloom vs. Ghouls" to World of Warcraft as part of the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion. Shigihara provided some music for the quest. The song "Bad Guy" (2019) by Billie Eilish was inspired by the theme music for Plants vs. Zombies. Remaster During a Nintendo Direct presentation in July 2025, a remaster titled Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted was revealed. Described as "the definitive [Plants vs. Zombies] remaster", it includes high-definition video, multiplayer compatibility, additional game modes, and unreleased concept art. Replanted released for Windows, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 23, 2025. ==Notes==