The Plants vs. Zombies series turned out to be the second most popular gaming brand in China among children. However, this does not bring much money to the creators of the project.
The research was conducted by the analytical firm SVP Research. In order to find out which gaming brand is the most popular, the company’s experts interviewed children aged 6 to 12 years in different countries. There were no answers given – respondents had to voice the names that first come to mind.
“It turned out to be very interesting,” comments SVP Research analyst Michael Cai. – [In China] Plants vs. Zombies turned out to be the second most popular gaming brand among children from 6 to 12 years old.” In the first place, by the way, was the PlayStation.
Despite such popularity of the game, EA, which owns the rights to the title, has not yet managed to make much money on it. The reason is pirates. “EA somehow didn’t work out with monetization, and all because of piracy. In China, every child plays with Plants vs. Zombies cards (meaning illegal merchandising, – approx. editors), but EA does not receive a cent from this,” Kai continues.
Perhaps this happened because before iOS and Android EA launched the paid Plants vs. Zombies on PC. According to Kai, not a single person in China paid for this version.
Now, with the release of shareware Plants vs. Zombies 2, the situation is slowly changing. However, it continues to be not too advantageous for EA. Kai believes that the company needs to invest in promoting the title in China. In particular, in the accompanying content. Otherwise, the pirates will get the money.
“EA is slowly starting to deal with Plants vs. Zombies,” Kai concludes. “But it still misses out on most of the revenue from merchandising and related content.”
Source: VentureBeat