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. It took three and a half years to make
Plants vs. Zombies. Rich Werner was the main artist, Tod Semple programmed the game, 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 and 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. Reviewers praised the game's humorous art style, simplistic but engaging gameplay, and soundtrack. Upon release in May 2009, it was the fastest-selling video game developed by PopCap Games and quickly became their best-selling game, surpassing
Bejeweled and
Peggle. By 2010, it had sold over a million copies worldwide and has since been considered one of the
greatest video games of all time. 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. (
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