PopCap Hits Rumored for Facebook - UPDATED

[Andy Chalk]

PopCap Hits Rumored for Facebook - UPDATED

It looks like Plants vs. Zombies [http://www.amazon.com/Peggle-Pc/dp/B001AZSEUW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1310595218&sr=8-2], two of PopCap's most popular games, could soon turn up on Facebook.

Dismiss casual gaming if you will, but the incontrovertible fact is that there aren't many videogames bigger or better than Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle, two of PopCap's best-known masterpieces. My dad plays Peggle - and my dad would rather hire someone to punch him in the kidneys repeatedly than admit that he plays videogames - and PvZ is so awesome that every time PopCap releases a new edition, I reflexively take out my wallet. [I currently own three versions of the game.]

Now it looks like those two heavyweights might be joining up with another stupidly addictive time sink: Facebook, the most popular social network on the planet. A "Success on Facebook" slide that was shown during an investor meeting yesterday in the wake of EA's purchase of the studio [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111607-EA-Buys-Peggle-Creator-PopCap-Games] included a point saying, "Future outlook is strong with top IP from both EA and PopCap to come." Directly adjacent to that upbeat statement were logos for four games: Risk: Factions, The Sims Social, and of course Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle.

Games.com [http://blog.games.com/2011/07/13/popcap-peggle-plants-vs-zombies-coming-to-facebook/] notes that PopCap announced plans for a "socialized" verson of PvZ for China's Renren social network back in May, which at the time wasn't expected to make it to Facebook. With PopCap now under the EA tent, however, it appears as though that situation may have changed.

UPDATE: PopCap's Garth Chouteau confirmed that the game are on the way to Facebook. "Sure they're coming to Facebook eventually," he said. "No timetable available yet, however."

And now we know.

via: Gamezebo [http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2011/07/13/plants-vs-zombies-and-peggle-may-be-coming-facebook]


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[Tartarga]

So then there might be some Facebook games that I would actually be interested in playing then? That's cool I guess, i'd just be happy that i'd finally be getting to play some PopCap games.

 

[NinjaTigerXIII]

It has began, the war for the casual gamer.

 

[brunothepig]

I've been waiting for this. Expected it ages ago. Finally the best causal dev hits the best platform for it. Hey, maybe there will finally be a facebook game worth a damn. To be fair, Sid Meyer's recent foray seems pretty good, but it was being pretty buggy for me. I'll return in a couple of weeks, or maybe wait for the thing to go out of beta.

 

[redisforever]

Sounds like I'll have a use for Facebook, unless they start using micropayment for PvZ. I don't want to pay real money for plants. I'll just go play my Steam version instead.

I noticed that in the picture, Risk Factions is mentioned. PLEASE! I want this on Facebook. I have it on Steam, and it's fantastic.

 

[lumenadducere]

More Plants vs. Zombies? And in Facebook, giving me an actual reason to go to the site? Yes please!

 

[Deef]

Too bad Facebook is already losing members to Google+.

 

[Simalacrum]

Too bad Facebook is already losing members to Google+.

Nnnnot really, considering FaceBook recently announced it now has 750 million members (teetering ever closer to that magic 1 billion mark...), and Google+ is kinda just FaceBook with a few new features and nobody on it...

edit: thats cool, I guess. I still don't even know how to play games on FaceBook, let alone care about them.

 

[Buizel91]

YES! This has made me one happy guy!

 

[Deef]

Too bad Facebook is already losing members to Google+.

Nnnnot really, considering FaceBook recently announced it now has 750 million members (teetering ever closer to that magic 1 billion mark...), and Google+ is kinda just FaceBook with a few new features and nobody on it...

edit: thats cool, I guess. I still don't even know how to play games on FaceBook, let alone care about them.

Google+ rose to 10 million in the past week or so. Once the beta is over and it stops being invite only, its population will skyrocket.

Also:

Wat

 

[Omechron]

why would being invite only hurt Google+, given that the only reason 99.9% of people get on things like facebook is when their friends are on it and nag them?

Come to think of it, it may actually HELP. I remember when Gmail had a kind of pseudo-exclusivity as it remained in beta well past the necessary point. Gmail invites were easier to get than hepatitis but it still felt cool to be a part of something nobody else was. I might just have stuck with Hotmail out of sheer inertia rather if not for that little extra push.

We'll see about this. I just hope they don't zyngafy it too badly. I don't feel like adding another 30 "friends" I don't know on top of my frontierville phonies just to be able to build the better plants.

 

[ark123]

Google + Will win out because its just better. When they introduced the first cars there were exponentially more chariots.

 

[Omechron]

uh... quite a few stage coaches and carriages but not so many chariots by that point. I get your meaning though.

But cars are not just better than horses, they're a whole LOT better. They go faster, don't poo on things, are less temperamental, take less space, etc. What does G+ do that's so fantastic over and above what facebook does?