Was George Fan Fired Because Of Objections To Pay-2-Win Plants Vs. Zombies Model?
So, yesterday we reported a story about Plants Vs. Zombies creator George Fan. We noted how after his indie game group PopCap was bought by EA, that the publisher wanted the sequel to have a Pay-2-Win model. But, according to a well-respected friend of Fan’s, Fan wanted none of it, and didn’t feel that microtransactions belonged in the game. Not long after this disagreement, Fan was let go from EA, and Plants Vs. Zombies 2 got an in-game purchases feature. Many heard this and wanted to hear from Fan himself on the issue.
Well, he obliged, and made this post on Twitter:
Regarding recent rumors, it is true I was laid off by EA/PopCap, and also true that I was against making PvZ2 a freemium game. That’s all I’ll say on the matter for now
— George Fan (@thegeorgefan) November 21, 2017
While hardly conclusive, it does raise many questions. For if he was just let go for regular reasons, why not mention it? Why be so cryptic? Some people on Twitter believe that Fan is bound by an NDA of sorts that doesn’t allow him to speak on his dismissal, which is entirely possible.
However, there is a twist in this tale. For another developer who worked on Plants Vs. Zombies 2 has popped up on Twitter to defend EA, and drops some potentially interesting information about Fan’s involvement with the game:
Cool. Since this picked up some traction, I should state the facts that I know. I was the lead producer from Jan ‘12 to launch in July ‘13, about 18mo. George was never involved during the time I worked on the project. He was working on a different game, which was super fun!
— Allen Murray (@allenmmurray) November 21, 2017
Apparently, other EA developers have said the same thing, which would seem to refute the intent of the firing. However, there are still questions. Mainly, why would the creator of the Plants Vs. Zombies franchise get laid off at all? If we’re talking priority people to keep, you’d think a great designer like him would’ve been kept on the hook, right?
Guess we’ll have to ponder this as we hope for more information.
