Electronic Arts is making Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. I know this because I saw a trailer for it on the internet. But that trailer wasn’t part of any planned reveal or official EA YouTube account. Instead, it was the industry’s latest major leak.
We’ve known that EA has spent a few years working on what was previously known as Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 3. The publisher spun off Garden Warfare from its popular tower-defense games in 2014. And it last launched Garden Warfare 2 in 2016. The company continued to support that release with new content into last year.
Now, the series is shifting brands — at least according to the leaked trailer. That means nothing you see in the video is final or confirmed. But I have validated that it is real, and it was not an intentional leak. That last part is pretty obvious when you see the trailer. It features a lot of identifying emblems that EA may use to sniff out the source.
But all that aside, the trailer is quite entertaining. And it looks like Battle for Neighborville is ready to enter a world where the Plants vs. Zombies brand has to compete with the likes of Fortnite.
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https://youtu.be/lBNLSPS-rEg
Plants vs. Zombies is still a huge brand
While we don’t know when (or even if) the new Plants vs. Zombies shooter is coming, the game is in a strong position to compete. It still has a lot of fans in Western markets like North America and Europe. But in China, Plants vs. Zombies is a massive phenomenon.
In 2016, Plants vs. Zombies had the second highest brand recognition in China in the gaming space behind only PlayStation. While huge games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds have since launched and found significant success in China, Plants vs. Zombies should still have a chance to compete in that market. This is especially true since Fortnite has not dominated in China like it has in other territories. Battle for Neighborville could come along and quickly win over the younger audience that it is already extremely popular with.
The trailer also seems like it is hitting the right tone to capture those players as well. It has a lot of energy and fun music. Now, we just need to wait and see if EA every actually announces the game’s existence.
