PopCap’s Plants vs Zombies Press Conference in Shanghai

By Chris Chang, posted May 24, 2011 at 1:43 PM, 1,332 views,

PopCap’s Plants vs Zombies Press Conference in Shanghai

PopCap Games has made a smart move to target the Chinese market, by bringing its most popular game, Plants vs. Zombies, to China with more exciting features, such as a whole new social edition. So, a press conference was held last week, and we have lots of photos and details here. Check out after the break!

It’s kinda surprising to see PopCap holding a press conference in China, Shanghai. This clearly shows that the game company is treating China as its major target audience for its future plans. At the press con, there’s a rest area arranged for the media. It’s not a simple rest area. This place provides tablets, iPhones, and laptops for people to play PvZ.

The whole room becomes a public PvZ gaming zone. ^O^

Shocked to see that they provide a Thinkpad for the demo. No MacBook?

iPad? Nope. A Lenovo LePad running an unofficial PvZ simplified Chinese version on its Android OS.

David Roberts, CEO of PopCap games, made an appearance! Looks like PopCap is treating this press con very seriously. Roberts also lead the presentation. Cool.

First, PopCap shows off its signature games. And they are telling everyone that their games are suitable for all ages. Gamers can play it anytime, anywhere. And their games belong to both single-player and multi-player (connect with friends).

PopCap believes that core gamers are transforming to casual gamers. Games are getting cheaper and cheaper, and today, there are lots of games which are available for free download. With the new trend of smartphones and tablets, PC games are now making a platform transfer, supporting multi-OS.

PopCap wants its games to be multi-platform (especially mobile OS), adapted to online multiplayer through social network, and be available globally (especially Asia).

PopCap is in the top ten list of PC game retail publishers for 2010, beating Microsoft.

And PopCap has two games listed in top-grossing iOS apps for 2010. Awesome.

So what’s PopCap’s plans in the next three years? Well, the company aims to get its games to be transferred to the mobile OS platform including Android and iOS. Social network is the next big thing, and conducting a deep research on the Asia market.

The man in charge of PopCap China shows off the PopCap China Developer team which includes 80 employees and still counting. Their office is in Shanghai, and most of the employees are Chinese.

Their first big announcement, an official Chinese version of PvZ on iOS! Just in case you are not aware, Chinese iOS gamers could only play PvZ in English version ever since PvZ was first released, there’s no Chinese version officially available from PopCap.

This official Chinese version of PvZ includes more mini games than the original English version.

For those of you who play PvZ on PCs, you should be happy since PopCap is bringing the mini games which are exclusively on PC versions to this Chinese version of PvZ for iOS.

Why not put these stuff on the original English version?

Next, PopCap will work together with one of the most popular local fashion brands, Meters/bonwe, to release a series of limited edition PvZ themed tee-shirts and they will be available in limited quantity from June.

PopCap asked its Chinese employees to wear those shirts, sweats, and jackets to act like models. Fun.

I wanna get one of these!!!

Lastly, the biggest thing — Plants vs. Zombies Social Edition. What!? This is real. Enjoy the demo below.

Players can invite their friends to visit their own personal towns, custom-built to reflect the individual’s style – and strategy! In the all-new Rampage mode, players will test their zombie-zapping skills in a 2-minute non-stop zombie attack. Every week there’s a new Rampage challenge and a new opportunity for players to show their friends who’s boss of the leaderboard. The game will be exclusively available in beta on Renren (a Facebook-like China’s social networking site), starting from June. Here’s what James Gwertzman, VP of Asia/Pacific at PopCap Games, said,

“The passion for Plants vs. Zombies here in China is incredible. PvZ has tremendous, unprecedented brand awareness and popularity in China with almost one million people already signed up to a PvZ page on Renren.com. There is superb demand for the game and we are excited to deliver the world’s first online multiplayer adaptation of Plants vs. Zombies in China very soon.”

And here’s what Joseph Chen, Chairman and CEO of Renren Inc., said,

“There has been spectacular worldwide demand for a social adaptation of Plants vs. Zombies. Renren is honored to be PopCap’s exclusive partner in bringing Plants vs. Zombies Social Edition to our users and providing them with a new way to play this world-famous game. I am also glad to see that PopCap, as a leading international games company, has made China a focus for its world-class games. It is a wonderful development for Chinese high-tech companies such as Renren and the Chinese market as a whole.”