PopCap reveals cause of Plants vs Zombies 2 delay

Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time has been facing quite a bit of delays, and developer PopCap has finally revealed why in an interview with Polygon . According to Senior Producer Allen Murray, the company has been working on making sure that the game’s internal systems don’t break under pressure once the game is launched.

“With Plants vs. Zombies 2 we’re taking advantage of a lot of newer technologies,” Murray said. “If you’re connected to the internet, you can save your progress and share accounts across multiple devices — and we need to make sure those systems, along with our ability to stream that content to players, works.”

As is the case with almost every other game that needs an Internet connection to play it, PopCap is worried about a large influx of players affecting the backend stability of the game. It is, however, worth noting that Plants vs Zombies 2 won’t need an Internet connection just to play. Instead, the game will have some extra bonuses tied to the Internet.

You won’t be able to fight this suave zombie for quite some time

“If we had more players than we could account for, some of the systems might fall over,” he added. “We want to be double confident, so we’re testing it in a smaller region. This allows us to have a more controlled testing player base and determine how to keep the game healthy, then map that to the expected growth when we launch worldwide.”

The sequel will continue with the struggle between plants that defend your brains and zombies that are invading your backyard. The company also plans to extend the game levels to eras in both the past and the future. The time-travelling in the game will enable you to meet pirates and travel to ancient Egypt.

The game is being developed from the ground up for touch-based devices and will feature new touch-based power-ups that will let you interact with both the plants and the zombies directly.

Currently, the game is scheduled to be launched in the summer 2013 window with no precise release date.