Plants vs Zombies bridging the hardcore-casual divide

Despite having been on the market for just a little over two weeks, Plants vs Zombies is already on track to become PopCap’s best ever selling game – an impressive feat considering that it’s up against the likes of casual legends Bejeweled and Peggle.
It may well be, though, that its success stems from the fact that Plants vs Zombies has stumbled upon that rare formula that means it’s able to sell to both the casual and hardcore audience.
“[Plants vs. Zombies] is selling incredibly well and at this very early point in its history, it’s the best-selling game PopCap’s ever had,” PopCap PR rep Garth Chouteau told Gamasutra.

“There’s certainly a larger contingent of ‘hardcore’ gamers purchasing Plants vs. Zombies than most of our other titles, with the notable exception of Peggle, At the moment, we’d estimate that at least half of all buyers of the game would fall into the ‘hardcore’ category.
“There are several possible reasons for this beyond the game itself – casual buyers tend to take longer to go from trial to purchase, and Plants vs. Zombies has been available on Steam, an essentially ‘hardcore’ service, since launch and at a discount.
“At this juncture, we don’t worry much about ‘casual vs hardcore’ – we try to make games that will appeal to both audiences more or less equally. In this short attention span century of ours, this can be tricky since people tend to judge things quickly.”

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