Plants vs Zombies 3 will go offline and get a “major overhaul” following feedback from the app’s “soft launch”, which began back in January.
The undead tower defense threequel is now no longer available to download from the iPhone App Store and Google Play, and in-game purchases have been switched off.
A statement released today by developer PopCap gives existing players a month’s notice of servers going dark for an indefinite period, beginning 15th November, from which point on the game will be unplayable.
“Hey Neighborville residents!” the statement reads. “We’ve been grateful for your enthusiasm and feedback during our soft launch.
“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!”
It’s been nine months since Plants vs Zombies 3 rolled out via a “soft launch”, and received a decidedly mixed response. At the time, Popcap admitted there were “some gameplay elements that aren’t connecting so much with some people”.
Over the course of this year, Popcap has continued to tweak the game with new features, and the sentiment to today’s news among Plants vs Zombies fans seems hopeful, if not entirely positive.
“PvZ 3 is slowly getting better so maybe there’s still some hope?” one fan said, posting in response to Popcap via the franchise’s reddit.
“It’s kinda sad to see the only thing keeping the PvZ franchise alive disappear for a while, but I think it’s for the best,” said another. “I’d rather eventually have a game that I’ll play instead of a game that exists but I don’t bother playing.”