Developer PopCap and writer EA have been engaged on the most recent entry within the Vegetation Vs. Zombies collection, Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia, for the previous 4 years or so. It’s been by just a few tender launches and intervals of unavailability, however it’s nonetheless very a lot in improvement.

Nonetheless, alongside this work on the third tower protection title within the collection, a gaggle of followers have been engaged on a recreation known as Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been. It was introduced as being in improvement on Could 1, 2024, however it didn’t even final the remainder of the month earlier than EA and PopCap stepped in to place a cease to it. The factor is, neither firm appears to have been that harsh with the followers, but regardless of this recreation clearly infringing the franchise’s copyright, the fan builders are crushed by their recreation’s cancelation.

Why was Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been shut down?

The rationale that Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been was shut down is as a result of it closely infringes the PopCap and EA’s copyright for not solely Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia, but in addition the collection as an entire.

The sport could also be a fan undertaking, however it’s set within the universe PopCap created, makes use of the corporate’s characters, the design for the video games that sparked the collection, and all the pieces else that makes up the essence of the collection. On Could 14, 2024, the creators of Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been acquired communication from PopCap and EA asking them to cease improvement.

The direct communication requested the undertaking’s founder to cease improvement as a result of it’s an alternate model of PopCap and EA’s recreation. The message, despatched by way of Reddit, defined how PopCap is mostly okay with fan tasks however has to attract the road someplace. The road, it seems, is drawn at creating various variations of Vegetation vs. Zombies video games.

The followers understood the place PopCap was coming from however felt this response was fairly rash. On the time the message was acquired, solely the paintings for Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been had been launched publicly. Nonetheless, as person chhopsky factors out on Twitter, it seems rather a lot like somebody minimize out the tagline for PopCap’s recreation and caught their very own as an alternative.

Of their response to PopCap, the founding father of the fan undertaking made it clear they didn’t need this recreation to be an “various” to PopCap’s. Actually, they outlined how the picture they’d shared was non permanent, and the sport they needed to make would use unique paintings, sprites, and music and have its personal storyline. Moreover, the sport wouldn’t be monetized in any approach or listed in the identical market area as PopCap’s unique title.

PopCap’s response to this was, I believe, fairly affordable. It defined how the fan undertaking couldn’t use any of the unique characters it had created, comparable to PeaShooter, Sunflower, Wall-nut, Conehead Zombie, and each different face you see within the official collection. There can be hassle if the fan undertaking contained redrawn variations of those characters.

Nonetheless, PopCap may be very clear that if Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been comprises all-new characters created particularly for its setting and story, that wouldn’t be a problem. Its response is definitely fairly encouraging on that entrance.

The founder’s takeaway was that PopCap was singling the sport out and that making unique characters to fill in for these the developer had made within the first place wasn’t value it. Contemplating the quantity of labor it might take to make meaningfully totally different stand-ins, I’ve to agree. However it’s arduous to say how others would have felt about this, on condition that the sport was meant to be the product of passionate followers who simply needed to make a recreation they have been determined for within the franchise.

Understandably, the founder hasn’t gone into an excessive amount of element about what the plan for Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been is transferring ahead. The group definitely can’t make the sport now, however there’s a option to be made between persevering with it in secret and distributing it quietly or, given PopCaps’ necessities, simply making a full various to Vegetation vs. Zombies.

I’d completely like to see a passionate group of followers of this collection, which was one of many first to essentially make a splash on smartphones again within the day, make one thing they really feel is healthier and serves the wants of the gamers. In spite of everything, because the founder factors out of their thread, there’s some contradiction between what PopCap stated to them about defending the work of its artists and EA’s intention of utilizing generative AI to interchange them.

What was Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been?

Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been was a fan undertaking created to deal with two main issues with Vegetation vs. Zombies 3 that EA and PopCap made. First, the official recreation appeared to be in a little bit of a improvement hell for a number of years. It initially soft-launched to a set variety of customers earlier than being taken down.

Then, it was restored in sure areas and brought down once more. It solely formally launched in 2024, however it was nonetheless a tender launch. The fan undertaking principally aimed to be a full recreation for followers to take pleasure in, not one which would seem and disappear for even longer.

The second difficulty that Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been was constructed to repair was followers’ unaddressed expectations of gameplay. The undertaking’s web site doesn’t specify precisely what these are, however I think about these gripes should have been current in each earlier titles to warrant a gaggle of followers getting collectively to repair them in a brand new recreation.

It definitely seems just like the workforce had some large plans for Vegetation vs. Zombies 3: What Might Have Been and all the time made it clear that it couldn’t monetize it, so it might be free for anybody who needed it. That doesn’t change the truth that the sport makes use of property created by PopCap and EA.

If the undertaking’s creators had stayed quiet about their recreation and distributed it to pals and followers, it might need seen the sunshine of day. Because it stands, this fan recreation made it to 23 days in lively improvement and even had functions for extra individuals to hitch in that point. Fortunately, no authorized motion seems to have been taken, so nobody is dropping cash or struggling that a lot over it.