Plants and Zombies: Replanting is a new “anchor of the franchise” and has a chance to re-recognize the roots of the series

When Popcorn announces “Confirm” new version of its beloved original version Plants and zombiesThe studio reflects the evolution of its Garden Tower Defense series – revealing why it’s now a pair of sequels focused on smartphones, and it’s the right time to go back to the series’ PC and console roots.

Speaking to IGN, Popcap Studio General Manager Nick Reinhart said the freshly announced Plants and Zombies: Replanted is an opportunity to “rebuild” fans’ love for the series while making it available to beautiful 4K graphics on modern consoles.

Plants and Zombies: Replanting will arrive on October 23, 2025 for $19.99 for PC (via EA App, Epic Games Store, and Steam), as well as consoles for Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

New features include local co-op and PVP options, two other game modes (a Roguelike Persadeath product called “REST”, and Cloudy Day Mode, which improves difficulties by limiting sunlight), and an art gallery that shows previously unreleased concepts.

Executive producer Jake Neri described the package as a “definite PVZ remake”, which he said was popcorn “retaining the original magic while also giving it a freshness that would allow it to last more than 20 years.”

When asked why replanting is now surfaced, Neri continued: “We’ve heard about it for a while that people will love the remake of the game.” “Time matters.”

“Popcorn just celebrated (PVZ) sweet 16, which seems a little weird, but in popcorn, we're weird.” “It's certainly already spinning around when we've been talking about putting things together.”

Repranted's announcement in an interesting moment for the Plants and Zombies franchise, At least six years of work Test various versions of the plant with Zombies 3 on smartphone 3 via popcorn. Finally released globally in January 2024 Then, PVZ 3 went offline for another “overhaul” in October 2024 – And, almost a year later, this is still resurfaced.

Reinhart asked for an update on Mia Trixquel's identity, “My official answer here is, what I have to say about the PVZ 3 at the moment.” At least in 2025, the focus of the franchise seems to have been replanted – although there is no “no plan” to launch on smartphones, which will allow the PVZ to return to the runway at some point.

“Is it a reset?” Reinhart said when asked if Replanted's release was a franchise that resets its origins after various spin-offs and sequels. “I think it's an interesting approach. What I'm going to say is that I think it's more like to our roots and the games we should consider and the games we should make.”

“Is this brand gone? No,” Reinhardt continued. “For me, resetting almost means 'well, it's dead on the vine,' we're like trying to bring it back or something like that. I don't think it's there. I think it's an opportunity, people who can re-establish this brand, people still have a lot of neighbor stories, we have to tell us, we have to tell us, we have to tell us, we have to tell us, we have to tell us, and we have to tell us, and we have to think about our scope, and we have to think about our scope, we have to think about our scope. We did there.”

Naturally, Popcap decided to restart Primitive Plants and Zombies after seeing the reaction of the latest game in the series. The 2013 Smartphone Plants with Zombies 2 is popular and long-lasting, although it includes touchscreen electric motors and microtransactions that are grinding with some players. In recent years, through the Garden Warfare spin-off series, the focus of the series' consoles has shifted to 3D shooters – although for the moment, the 2019 Neighbors entry battle seems to be the last.

Even the popcorn itself, which was previously a prolific creator of the weird but compulsive game ideas (Farnzy!zuma!bookworm!), has cemented its focus in recent years. Next year's camouflage star will be a decade old, and Peggle 2 is 12 years old and shows no sign of entering the horizon for the third time.

“I’m going to say that the enthusiasm of the community is an important thing that has to be galvanized and recognized,” Reinhardt said. “What inspired us to design decisions is how we make sure we stay familiar with things, which doesn’t completely break the compactness we do with the player community, but we can also start iterating and move it forward.”

“This game gives us the opportunity to sneak in and try to figure out exactly what people love about PVZ,” Neri added. “And we've learned a lot about the comedy of IP and how it can attract people in this way, which helps guide us and helps us stay true to expectations.”

This desire to keep fans expecting helps popcorn choose a new mode for replanting, but Neilly continues that while the developers have a lot of ideas and could have introduced “all different directions,” Repanted’s team instead targets what they think fans really want.

Renhart agreed: “How much innovation we have brought to ourselves, not just trying to alienate the core overall experience of the players… When we focus on the future, we look at the brand more holistically, say, what else is it that we reinvest? There is no formal plan now, we have played a lot of things to some extent, but, it's a little bit, but, it's a time to encounter, but it's a thing that's encountered, and it's a thing that's encountered. Popcorn is, it's back on tower defense, and we're excited about it.”

“We have already explored a lot around people's love for all the different versions of PVZ and tried to bring it back to this version,” Neri added. “As we move forward, I absolutely hope that replanting is an anchor for us that people can see and understand – because the original PVZ still lives in people's hearts.”

So what about the future? Is there a clue to returning more solid primitive plants with zombies in replanting, where can the franchise go? Or can it inspire the re-release of other popcorn classics?

“We’ve definitely been talking about it all the time – if it’s fruitful, if it meets the expectations of fans…is this a template?” Reinhardt said. “I think there is a lot of enthusiasm. Now, whether there are actually plans in progress or not, we can’t say that, but I would say we’re very interested in understanding how this is going and what other properties might follow a similar route.

“PVZ is incredibly durable and able to bring it to new audiences to awaken people's nostalgia and how they feel about it, especially when I think the world can use a little joy and zero taste, it feels like the right time.”

Tom Phillips is the news editor for IGN. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on the Blues @tomphillipseg.bsky.social