Happy 10th Anniversary Plants vs. Zombies

They grow up so fast! It was 10 years ago yesterday, May 5, that the very first Plants vs. Zombies™ game bloomed for players, and then many more players, and then even more than that – including you! Throughout the years, players have made it one of the biggest slices of awesome ever, planting a ridiculous number of Sunflowers, Peashooters, Chompers, and others – probably about 4.5 gagillion plants in total, but that’s just a guess! – to protect brains from Football Zombies, Gargantuars, Imps, Buckethead Zombies, and other zombies.

Of course, Plants vs. Zombies was just the beginning of the harvest of great games, followed by Plants vs. Zombies 2 taking you across time and space, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare and Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 unleashing the wackiest shooters the world’s ever known, and other fabulously fun numbers. And the fun hasn’t been solely games – who could forget when PvZ™ partnered with the American Dental Association to Stop Zombie Mouth or unleashed the toe-tapping-ist song in the galaxy, Wabby Wabbo? Or the New York Times Bestselling Plants vs. Zombies comics put out with the fine folks at Dark Horse Comics and written by multiple Eisner Award winner Paul Tobin? No-one could, that’s who! And that’s just the tip of the stalk when we start walking down the 10-year-old PvZ memory lane. 

But what do those who make the great games remember most fondly in their mighty minds when they think of those ten years, and all the amazing peas fired, brains eaten, and garbled genius lines spoken by Crazy Dave? Guess what? We asked them to find out! And we want to know what you remember, too. But more on that in a moment.

Favorite PvZ Memories from Game Developers

The folks that created the plantastic PvZ games have memories stretching back all the way to the beginning – and even before that! PvZ Writer and PvZ 2 Designer Stephen Notley has a favorite memory from those early days of planting and zombie-battling, saying, “My favorite memory of PvZ 1 was when it was just out of prototype. I was playing it with a couple of other people, and one of the co-founders of Popcap, said, ‘I need more sun.’ It was amazing seeing people discover that there is more to this game than meets the eye. There is a strategy and a thoughtfulness behind it. And it was about super simplifying tower defense but still making it really fun. Plus, I love being able to write the Almanac, and just write plant jokes.”

The jokes and puns and hilarity and fun have always been a crucial part of PvZ, throughout the games and every bit of the brand across the universe – and the teams have lots of fun, too. Just ask Justin Wiebe, the Creative Director for Garden Warfare 2, his favorite memory, and you’ll get a little insight into some of the jolly journeys the teams go on.

“At one point in the development of the original Garden Warfare, the Engineer Zombie could summon a drivable dune buggy. In our team playtests we had Engineers bombing around in their dune buggies, running over plants (which was insta-kill BTW) and making life generally miserable for the plant team.  Our Producer kept exploiting the ability to the point where we were forced to remove the dune buggy and replaced it with a non-damaging jackhammer. Ever since that day his K/D ratio dropped and has never recovered, a point I bring up often.”

Shaun Laker, Garden Warfare 2 Producer, echoes these sentiments around how much fun circles around PvZ, saving, “My favorite moment from Garden Warfare 2 was when I mistakenly entered the Backyard Plant base as a zombie. The sirens started to blast, and Super Bean appeared on my screen – he was out for me! What transpired was an intense battle with many respawns. I love these fun experiences in Garden Warfare – there are so many. It’s no surprise this unique and special game is so popular after its third-year anniversary.”

How does so much fun happen? Well, it takes folks like the above having a good time while making the games together. 

What Are Your Favorite PvZ Memories?

Of course, PvZ wouldn’t have gotten beyond the very first backyard without the support of our best botanical battlers – you!  PvZ players are the most passionate, kookiest, creative, hungriest, nuttiest bunch, and we certainly appreciate you. It’s always neat to hear you sing, draw, imitate, and talk about your favorite plants, zombies, and moments from the wild and wonderful growing world of PvZ. And now we want to hear even more!

That’s right; it’s time to tell us your favorite memories from the last ten years of Plants vs. Zombies. Just post them up on your social media channels, tagging us with the hashtag #PvZ10Years. Still remember unleashing your first Umbrella Leaf? Let us know about it! Have an unrelenting relish for the Relic Hunter Zombie? Fill us in on it! Created delectable fan art featuring Captain Deadbeard? Unveil it to us! We want to know what makes you smile when thinking about the first wonderful ten years of PvZ, so don’t hold back.

Thanks for being a part of the PvZ family -- we couldn’t have grown to ten without you!

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