Plants vs. Zombies (video game)

Plants vs. Zombies
The cover art of Plants vs. Zombies, which features its logo and a zombie in front of a yellow background.
Developer(s)PopCap Games
Publisher(s)PopCap Games[a]
Designer(s)George Fan
Programmer(s)Tod Semple
Artist(s)Rich Werner
Writer(s)Stephen Notley[b]
Composer(s)Laura Shigihara
SeriesPlants vs. Zombies
Platform(s)
Release
May 5, 2009
  • Windows, macOS
    • WW: May 5, 2009
    iOS
    • WW: February 15, 2010 (iPhone/iPod Touch)
    iOS (iPad)/iPadOS
    • WW: April 5, 2010
    Xbox 360
    • WW: September 8, 2010
    Nintendo DS
    • NA: January 18, 2011
    • PAL: May 6, 2011
    PlayStation Network
    • WW: February 8, 2011
    DSiWare
    • NA: March 14, 2011
    • PAL: May 6, 2011
    Android
    • WW: May 31, 2011 (Amazon Appstore)
    • WW: December 14, 2011 (Google Play)
    Kindle Fire
    • WW: November 14, 2011
    Windows Phone
    • WW: June 23, 2011
    Nook HD
    • WW: November 11, 2011
    PlayStation Vita
    • NA: February 21, 2012
    • EU: February 22, 2012
    BlackBerry 10
    • WW: January 30, 2013
Genre(s)Tower defense, strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Plants vs. Zombies is a 2009 tower defense video game developed and published by PopCap Games. First released for Windows and Mac OS X, the game has since been ported to consoles, handhelds, and mobile devices. The player takes the role of a homeowner amid a zombie apocalypse. As a horde of zombies approaches along several parallel lanes, the player must defend their home by placing plants, which fire projectiles at the zombies or otherwise detrimentally affect them. The player collects a currency called sun to buy plants. If a zombie happens to make it to the house on any lane, the player loses the level.

Plants vs. Zombies was designed by George Fan, who conceptualized it as a more defense-oriented sequel to his fish simulator game Insaniquarium (2001), then developed it into a tower defense game featuring plants fighting against zombies. The game took inspiration from the games Magic: The Gathering and Warcraft III; along with the movie Swiss Family Robinson. Its development spanned three and a half years. Rich Werner was the main artist, Tod Semple served as programmer, and Laura Shigihara composed the game's music. In order to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers, the tutorial was designed to be simple and spread throughout Plants vs. Zombies.

Plants vs. Zombies was positively received by critics, was nominated for multiple awards, including "Download Game of the Year" and "Strategy Game of the Year" as part of the Golden Joystick Awards 2010, and has since been considered one of the greatest video games of all time. Reviewers praised the game's humorous art style, simplistic but engaging gameplay, and soundtrack. Upon release, it was the fastest-selling video game developed by PopCap Games and quickly became their best-selling game, surpassing Bejeweled and Peggle. In 2011, PopCap was bought by Electronic Arts (EA). The company laid off Fan and 49 other employees, marking a change of focus to mobile and social gaming. After the buyout, Plants vs. Zombies was followed by a multimedia franchise including two sequels, three third-person shooters, two comic book series, and several spin-off games, most of which have received positive reviews.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference gamasutra ps3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Koller, John (December 22, 2011). "PlayStation Vita Launch Lineup and Details". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  3. ^ "Happy 10th Anniversary Plants vs. Zombies". EA. May 6, 2019. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  4. ^ Fan, George (February 9, 2018). "IamA George Fan, game designer & creator of Plants vs. Zombies & Octogeddon. AMA!". Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021 – via Reddit.


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