EA Takes Plants vs. Zombies 3 Offline for ‘Major Overhaul’

EA has pulled Plants vs. Zombies 3 offline for what it called a “major overhaul” as it works to once again improve the game before a worldwide launch.

In a blog post, EA said in-app purchases are no longer available and the game is no longer available to download. November 15, 2024 is the final day to play. After that, the servers go offline and Plants vs. Zombies 3 will be inaccessible in all territories.

Any earned or purchased coin balances as of November 15, 2024 will be saved as long as you've connected your account through Google Play, Apple ID, or your EA Account. Boosts, game progress (including levels and unlocked units), and narrative will all be reset.

Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia is a 2024 free-to-play tower defense mobile game developed by EA-owned PopCap Games and published by EA on iPhone and Android in January this year. That followed a soft launch in select regions in 2020, a re-work and subsequent re-launch in April 2022, then another soft-launch in October 2022. A worldwide launch was then planned for later in 2024, but clearly PopCap is still working to get to the root of the game’s issues.

EA said it’s now “excited to re-tool” the game and “bring you an even better PvZ3 experience soon.”

“We’ve been grateful for your enthusiasm and feedback during our soft launch,” EA said. “We’ve always had love for our plants, and yes, even our zombies, and it has been a joy bringing life to Dave, his niece, Patrice, Nate, and many more in PvZ3. It’s clear that we’re onto something great and following the recent releases of Choose Your Seeds and the manual activation of Grapes of Wrath, we want to go even further to make the game truly special.

“That’s why we’re taking the game offline for a major overhaul, and we can’t wait to share what’s taking root!”

The Plants vs. Zombies franchise has suffered a difficult time in recent years, with various spin-offs failing to replicate the phenomenal popularity of the first two games. Fans often call on EA to release a third game in the third-person shooter spin-off series Garden Warfare, which has been dormant since the release of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville in 2019.

A canceled single-player Plants vs. Zombies game had been in the works within EA from about 2015 to 2017. Read all about what happened to that in a special IGN investigation.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].