Plants Vs Zombies 2 Was a Paid iOS Exclusive

Until very recently, it seems like Android users would be doomed to waiting when it came to Plants Vs Zombies 2. There was little in the way of talk about it, definitely no firm release dates… It meant that while many of us were enjoying the game on our iOS devices, others were taking to Facebook in their thousands for being left out. Today we discover just why those people were forced to suffer so damn much: Apple paid a lot of money.

That’s almost exactly what Frank Gibeau said at an internal EA meeting earlier this week. Actually, he used the word “truckload.”

“Apple gave us a truckload of money to delay the Android version”

Leaked out after the meeting and confirmed via different sources by Giant Bomb, Gibeau confirmed that the Android version of Plants Vs Zombies 2 was delayed because Apple had paid an awful lot of cash so that they could be first. This seems like an almost crazy thing to do – do people really pick their phone based on two months of iOS exclusivity on a tower defence title? – but I guess they wouldn’t have tried the deal if they didn’t think it’d work out for them.

Thankfully, the period of exclusivity will soon be over. Popcap confirmed via Facebook that the Android version of Plants Vs Zombies 2 would be coming this fall. Rumours this week seem to point to that being an October release, although there’s nothing concrete just yet.