PopCap is reproducing. Its love affair with console and PC gaming has led it to create PopCap HD.
The studio is now, effectively, two teams, according to Digital Spy. The core company will continue working on mobile titles while the splinter group that recently finished Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare for consoles is now known as PopCap HD. This 40-person wing of PopCap is responsible for PC and console development, and it’s working on a new property.
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The Garden Warfare team is currently working on updating Peggle 2 on Xbox One as well as potentially porting the physics puzzler to other platforms. Clay also confirmed the team is working on a “new IP” for consoles and PC.
We’ve reached out to PopCap as well as publisher Electronic Arts to ask if we’ll start seeing the “PopCap HD” name on future products and when gamers can expect to see Peggle 2 on other devices. We’ll update this story with any new information.
In addition to Garden Warfare, PopCap has released a number of major sequels to its best-known franchises over the last several months. Peggle 2 hit Xbox One in December. In August, the studio released Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time for iOS around the world.
The studio first started producing software for PC in 2000. Unlike many casual-game developers, it has not gone completely free-to-play — although its Plants vs. Zombies 2 does use the model with a number of in-app purchases. Instead, PopCap is trying a multipronged approach to pricing. Garden Warfare is available digitally and physically with the Xbox 360 version selling for $30 and the Xbox One release set at $40. Peggle 2, meanwhile, is digital only and available for $8 on Xbox One.