How does PopCap do it? Like the Pixar of casual gaming, they manage to churn out hit after hit, even when expectations are unbelievably high. I managed to score a free copy of Plants vs. Zombies (thanks, Jay is Games twitter account!) and have played through about the first three chapters or so.
The gameplay in PvZ isn’t revolutionary or ground-breaking. If you’ve played flash tower defense games, the main idea is similar. But damn if PopCap didn’t polish it until it shined. The art is the usual whimsical PopCap style and the entire thing is highly addictive. The game has an unlock/reward structure that drives the player to want to play just one more level, with new items being revealed at the end of the previous level.
What’s more, the marketing campaign, from a consumer point of view, was executed perfectly. A terrific and funny music video was my first contact with the game and I saw it after I had finished playing a Bejeweled Facebook game. And…it worked. It made me interested in the game before it came out. I even considered preordering it on Steam – something I’m not sure I’ve ever considered for a casual game before.
Even with the higher expectations that all this marketing gave me, I was not disappointed. The Internet seems to agree: Metacritic currently has it at 89.
So, how does PopCap do it? Simple: they create fun, polished games and come up with creative and interesting marketing. Plus, they’ve created enough good casual games that they’ve become the brand to beat when it comes to satisfying downloadable casual game experiences.
Maybe not that simple then. Or quite simple, but just very difficult to pull off.