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[IMG News]

PopCap Games has announced development on the long awaited sequel to its casual tower defense title, Plants vs. Zombies. PvZ 2 is scheduled to launch in late spring 2013, and will include a variety of new features, settings, and situations involving the neverending struggle between plants and the undead.

PopCap Games, maker of some of the world’s most popular video game franchises and a division of EA, today announced that the underground growth of the sequel to Plants vs. Zombies™, one of the world’s most popular video games, is germinating and advancing with rigor.

The sequel to Plants vs. Zombies is expected to launch by late spring 2013, and will include a bevy of new features, settings, and situations, designed to delight the franchise’s tens of millions of fans around the world. No other details of the highly anticipated new installment in the franchise are available at this time, beyond the following comments from some of the game’s denizens.

“Spring is crullest curlie ungood time, and plantz grow dull roots,” noted an unidentified spokesperson. “So, we are meating you for brainz at yore house. No worry to skedule schedlue plan… we're freee anytime. We'll find you.”

“There was a time we relished a bracing, hearty blend of zombies, in the morning,” said Sonny F. Lower, a representative of the Flora Forever Foundation. “But first, a brisk shower and some strategic pruning are required. Tomorrow is near!”

Learn more about PopCap's games at the links below.

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[Smoke_Tetsu]

Please be not F2P and please be HD and widescreen.. unlike the original game which was SD On PC\Mac but later released as HD\widescreen on XBLA.

[Omaha Sternberg]

...and then PopCap lays off 50 and closes two studios. Or was that EA...I kinda forget who is supposed to be running PopCap now. :/

[Thain Esh Kelch]

Boring announcement..

[the Battle Cat]

Omaha Sternberg, on 21 August 2012 - 02:54 PM, said:

...and then PopCap lays off 50 and closes two studios. Or was that EA...I kinda forget who is supposed to be running PopCap now. :/

That happened in Seattle.  The rain washes twice that many employees down the storm drain every year.

[Smoke_Tetsu]

Come on, I can't be the only person around here who likes Plants vs Zombies. It was a fun game, probably the best casual game I've ever played.

[Thain Esh Kelch]

Smoke_Tetsu, on 21 August 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

Come on, I can't be the only person around here who likes Plants vs Zombies. It was a fun game, probably the best casual game I've ever played.

Agreed, it was awesome. Definitely looking forward to it, and I really hope they keep the high standards from the first one.

[Smoke_Tetsu]

OK I just read something that may throw a monkey wrench into this. Popcap is laying off a lot of people, and closing down a studio or two. Reportedly, the creator of Plants vs. Zombies may be one of the people put on the chopping block. In my opinion firing the creator of something doesn't bode well for it. Just look what happened to Ren & Stimpy when they fired John K. for example.

{Source}

[Omaha Sternberg]

the Battle Cat, on 21 August 2012 - 06:54 PM, said:

That happened in Seattle.  The rain washes twice that many employees down the storm drain every year.

Except that one of the people rumored to have been laid off, George Fan, is the guy who designed the very game that they just announced the sequel to.

[the Battle Cat]

You just see the worse in everything don't you Omaha.  Like that time the space aliens vaporized your family.  You were like all boo hooing and didn't even seem to realize that all their junk was now your junk, you had both sides of the bed, and you didn't have to share the computer.  Now I'm sure George can float, besides he has this big fat resume to crawl up on to paddle around on, and a lot of talent to sell.  A few well placed backhands and his starving family will shut up long before he finds another stinking job in this rotten economy.  See?  Look on the bright side.

[Tacohead]

Omaha Sternberg, on 22 August 2012 - 03:10 PM, said:

Except that one of the people rumored to have been laid off, George Fan, is the guy who designed the very game that they just announced the sequel to.

Um wait a second. Isn't Plants vs. Zombies their most successful game of all time? Or at least one of their most successful? I mean in sort of a put-them-on-the-map kind of way? If any of that is true why the heck would they fire this guy? Makes no sense.

-PN

[Tibur]

Tacohead, on 23 August 2012 - 10:41 AM, said:

Um wait a second. Isn't Plants vs. Zombies their most successful game of all time? Or at least one of their most successful? I mean in sort of a put-them-on-the-map kind of way? If any of that is true why the heck would they fire this guy? Makes no sense.

-PN

Perhaps he didn't want to make a sequel?  I understand an upstart casual games company, also based in Seattle, called Jawfish Games, was soliciting laid-off PopCap employees to stop by a bar (apparently located across the street from PopCap) for a free beer and an informational interview.

[Janichsan]

Tacohead, on 23 August 2012 - 10:41 AM, said:

If any of that is true why the heck would they fire this guy? Makes no sense.

He already has designed the game, no need for him to do it again. Ha. Ha.

No, seriously, I don't buy that EA is not in any way connected to the lay-offs. Maybe he was against the idea of turning PvZ in a typical EA piecemeal DLC mess.

[Tacohead]

Janichsan, on 23 August 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

He already has designed the game, no need for him to do it again. Ha. Ha.

No, seriously, I don't buy that EA is not in any way connected to the lay-offs. Maybe he was against the idea of turning PvZ in a typical EA piecemeal DLC mess.

Sadly that may very well be true.  

-PN

[Omaha Sternberg]

And, for some weird reason, PopCap and EA refuse to actually confirm or deny the rumor too. As of today, no one STILL knows for absolutely certain if he has been laid off, and the guy isn't on twitter talking. Most are assuming he was laid off.

One would think that either company would, like, say something to put rumors to rest, y'know?

[Matt Diamond]

Omaha Sternberg, on 24 August 2012 - 05:10 PM, said:

One would think that either company would, like, say something to put rumors to rest, y'know?

Yeah, it smells. When noone's talking it makes me think lawyers are involved.

The supremely bad timing of it is also interesting. It's as if while one group announced PvZ2, another group was firing, and now they realize that they have a huge PR problem. Or maybe the PvZ2 announcement was a last-minute attempt by the PvZ2 team to stop the hammer coming down.