PopCap Cuddles Tencent: PvZ Great Wall and Kingdoms Coming Soon To China

Popcap’s China invasion continues. The popular Plants vs Zombies (PvZ) game was first placed exclusively on Renren last year in May. And about one year later, this past Friday, it was announced that the game will be made available to Tencent’s users through its QQ Game Center.

This PvZ version on Tencent (HKG:0700) is also a much more localized version than the one on Renren. Besides being adapted to Chinese user behavior, PvZ Great Wall will see new Chinese zombies and maps. It’s scheduled to be released on May 18, 2012. Interestingly, PopCap has also made PvZ available on Java for the millions of feature phone users in China.

The PvZ Kingdoms version, as you might expect, will combine the gameplay with the famous Three-Kingdoms stories. This game will play differently as it focuses on hero level up through training and campaigns. PvZ Kingdoms is still under development and is scheduled to be launched in Q3 2012. Both PvZ Great Wall and Kingdoms will be free to download for QQ Game Center, Android, and Java phones. David Roberts, general manager of PopCap Games commented on China and the partnership with Tencent in a statement:

China has always been one of the most important areas for PopCap Games in Asia Pacific. It’s so amazing to see that Plants vs. Zombies is so popular here in China, so the new edition has kept our commitment of ‘In China, For China’. We believe the high quality of PopCap’s games and the strong base of Tencent platform, along with our experience on Plants vs. Zombies’ brands, we are perfectly positioned to deliver the ultimate game experience – PopCap style.

The move to put PvZ on Java based phones is an intriguing one. It would be very much welcome in Southeast Asia too, especially Indonesia where features phones still rule. Perhaps another opportunity for PvZ would be on mig33, where I believe users would go gaga over it. While China is a key market for PopCap, it also has its eye set on Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia.

Coincidentally, Evan Spytma, regional director of SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand at PopCap Games, will be speaking at Startup Asia Jakarta on June 7 at 9:40am to 10:10am. In that session, our China editor, Charlie Custer will pick his brain about PopCap’s plan in Southeast Asia.

[Image credit: Geekpinoy.com]