Archived Plants vs. Zombies Creator Reportedly Fired by EA for Objecting to Pay-to-Win (ign.com)
submitted ago by Kannibal
Posted by: Kannibal
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Archived on: 2/20/2018 10:00:00 AM
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Archived Plants vs. Zombies Creator Reportedly Fired by EA for Objecting to Pay-to-Win (ign.com)
submitted ago by Kannibal
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[–] shrink 0 points 40 points 40 points (+40|-0) ago (edited ago)
For those saying "serves you right for working with EA," it had nothing to do with his own decisions.
Fan made a game called Insaniquarium a long while back. It got tons of awards. He got headhunted by an indie game publisher PopCap and was given a couple people to work on stuff with, and was told "okay make a game." And he did, which was Plants vs Zombies, a very successful (and casualshit) game. He created and developed it from the ground up, it was his. PopCap then got bought out by EA later, who wanted a sequel. So Fan got to work again, he accomplished what he set out to do, and then EA barged in at the end and said "ok now we're going to add microtransactions." Fan said "uh no you aren't, I don't want that bullshit in my game," and EA fired him.
Keep in mind this happened in 2012, his getting fired isn't news but thanks to the creator of Binding of Isaac talking about it, now we know why.
[–] Firevine 0 points 10 points 10 points (+10|-0) ago
Damn shame too. PvZ was a ton of fun, had a good challenge curve, and a lot of strategy involved using the different plants to get through the level. PvZ was basically Plants vs Zombies vs Your Wallet. Difficulty curve was insane, not even a curve really. More like "Fuck you pay me if you want to pass this level." THEN they pushed an update that took a huge chunk of the cool aspects of the game out. I've seen people throw about "pay to win" all willy-nilly, but PvZ2 was the most egregious example I've ever played.
[–] OldGoatNewCoat 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
Insaniquarium was the shit, back in the day. IIRC popcap had a few other games that were pretty tight casual things (Zuma and Bejeweled I believe were both them too, unless I'm mistaken).
If you took away insaniquarium and simgolf, I'd probably have lost my virginity at 12 years old for lack of things to do.
[–] Browngaijin 1 point 3 points 4 points (+4|-1) ago
Agreed. The Sim City debacle took place in 2013 when gamers REALLY started foaming at the mouth. This took place a year before. I am curious as to how many companies EA was chewing out before and after.
[–] slwsnowman40 1 point 3 points 4 points (+4|-1) ago
God...SimCity...I bought that, installed it and found it to be crap so I went and bought SimCity 4 and spent hours more playing that over the newer version. It shouldn't be considered a city building/management game. Cities:Skylines dances circles around it effortlessly.