PopCap tailors new Plants vs. Zombies games for China, Tencent partnership

Newsbrief: Casual game developer PopCap will release two new games from its popular Plants vs. Zombies series for Android devices in China, and has tailored the titles for the country. Developed by the Electronic Arts subsidiary's Shanghai studio, the games include Plants vs. Zombies; Great Wall Edition, which takes place in the Great Wall of China; and Plants vs. Zombies: Kingdoms, a free-to-play title. PopCap's worldwide publishing EVP Dennis Ryan previously talked to Gamasutra about the importance of noticing the differences between Western social game players and their Chinese counterparts, and tailoring Chinese releases to account for them. Both titles will release on QQ Game Center, a mobile social platform on Android owned by major online game network operator Tencent. The Great Wall Edition is slated to debut on May 18, while Kingdoms is set for a summer release.