Plants vs. Zombies 3: Evolved

Similar to its predecessors, Plants vs. Zombies 3 has the player defend the left side of the screen from hordes of zombies approaching from the right. The game is set on a 5x12 grid where the player can place plants. The player uses various plants with different abilities to combat these zombies. Some plants either attack the zombies directly or by slowing them down.

The game follows a merge mechanic where 2 different or of the same plants can be merged to form new plants.

Plants are purchased using "sun", a currency obtained by clicking sun icons that randomly drop from the sky or are produced by plants like Sunflowers.

If a zombie breaches all lines of defense first, Mo the Smart Lawn Mower will activate on that respective zombie's lawn and defeat all zombies within it. However, if another zombie breaches again, the game is over.^{[citation needed]}

Plants vs. Zombies 3 began development as early as 2016, with various concepts created by digital artist Jason Brown.^[6] The game was expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2017 according to the China Licensing Expo 2017.^{[citation needed]} On July 16, 2019, PopCap announced the existence of the game and that a pre-alpha was coming soon for players to give feedback.^[7] The pre-alpha was closed on February 10, 2020, and was soft launched to select countries on February 25, 2020.^{[citation needed]}

With the soft-launch on 2020, the game's creative choices received major criticism. Examples included its art style switching from 2D to 3D, the game set to portrait orientation, the non-linear progression system, the overhaul of the game's sun system, and the game's unfair difficulty.^{[citation needed]} In response to criticism towards the game, PopCap decided to redo the game from scratch, which was later soft launched on September 7, 2021.^[4]

Plants vs. Zombies 3 then had subsequent soft-launches in April and October 2022.^[3] The game went silent for more than a year, with some speculating that the game was cancelled. However, the game received another soft launch on January 17, 2024, with the name Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia.^[8]

On October 16, 2024, EA took Plants vs. Zombies 3 offline for a "major overhaul".^[3] On January 14, 2025, the official Twitter account for the franchise would post the "EA Player Pulse" poll, asking for feedback regarding the game.^{[citation needed]} On February 7, EA would seek fan input regarding a second art style change, with three different styles to select from (including the current art style). Fans could choose which image they prefer by using a hashtag on social media, along with a brief sentence explaining why they preferred said art style.^[9] The game received another soft launch on October 7, 2025, with the name Plants vs. Zombies 3: Evolved.^[10] Fans noticed that the new main mechanic of merging plants is reminiscent of a popular fangame for the original Plants vs. Zombies.^[11][12] After being taken offline later that year, Evolved would receive another soft-launch on April 8, 2026.^[5]