The Rise and Fall of PopCap Games

thanks for watching this, it means a ton. PopCap is a huge part of my introduction to PC games, and i don't think i'd be here without it. happy to talk about it finally :)
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• The Oral History Of Po...
#gaming #popcapgames

[@anotheramber7074]

two things that I think are worth mentioning, garden warfare 2 wasn't brought up in this video, but it's a genuinely great game that built on everything the first game did and is still fun today (if you can get in a match, servers aren't particularly great) and the other thing is that PVZ heroes actually manages to still have an active community today, there's even mods for it that are actively being made!

[@loser_account4995]

I barely hear anyone talk about pvz Heroes, it's such a underrated gem.

[@kaleb_barbour3]

Came to the comments to say the same

[@somedudewithgrassgrowingou4177]

I have over 2500 hours on GW2. My life is spent and dedicated towards the holy sequel. Gods forever domain is outside of my grasp but it is ok, for my life already has a purpouse. To absolutely, roundhouse kick to the balls, knife in important blood vessels, 4 gauge applied to forhead destroy little children who get it for christmas.

[@jakemac5535]

Garden warfare 2 does have a hacker banning you glitch right now though so stay safe Totally agree tho

[@transientlattice]

you can usually find games in gw2 really quick if you're playing on console, though pc is pretty dead these days

[@qrangejuice8225]

I worked with PopCap games for my Make-a-Wish to make a little tech demo game. The team went above and beyond on their own time to finalize the art assets and make 3 levels, and were super lovely through the whole process. Unfortunately, the game (Allied Star Police) is no longer available on the app store, but you can find a trailer for it on KZbin! I was hugely disappointed by PopCap's downwards direction after the EA acquisition, but I'm very glad that I got to work with the team at 4th and Battery.

[@infinit33]

Makes me sad that they had a hit in Gw2 and made BFN instead smh if they would've kept some of the og stuff bfn would still be alive and well

[@user-ki9iw8om7u]

I know shame on popcap for trying something new

[@octogorb9853]

EA told them not to though, they are to blame for that.

[@owlson2527]

They made Big Fuckin’ Nuts? The more you know!

[@meggy1162]

@@user-ki9iw8om7u trying something new isn't necessarily the problem. They had good ideas with some of the new characters, but entirely removed the variants that made the garden warfare games stand out in the first place. The most beloved feature was completely removed and in the process much of the game's variety was lost. There are other upset and downs in the game, but the lack of variants i think was the biggest problem it had

[@derandere4356]

I loved PvZ 2. It was one of my favorite games ever. The exact breakpoint where I abandoned it was when they added the ability to level up plants. What a terrible design choice, I hate that they make a profit out of it.

[@lesymon8483]

I swear to god, PvZ 2 when they were still adding the worlds up until the modern days was a completely different game, before all the bullshit was added in, definitely one of my favourites of all time I wish I could play it again on the old versions but I don't think there's a way to go back, and how it is right now it's just disgustingly and utterly worse

[@yikerbones9824]

Heya, there's alot of great pvz2 mods to play without the p2w garbage

[@lrobin-is8dg]

I played the SHIT out of the second game back in 2019

[@lesymon8483]

@@yikerbones9824 really?

[@anonymentor1775]

@@lesymon8483 live APK reaction:

[@cyborgste]

A rise and fall video by sniss!? Well that's something I didn't expect today.

[@PlebNC]

Gymers joined the chat.

[@baaryn3558]

matt johnston is in fact, my dad. i grew up on those games, and as i grew older the #1 thing i heard was how much the ea buyout pissed my dad off.

[@glyndekari]

also as an aside: bejeweled blitz wasn't always like that. back in the early facebook games era, blitz was a lot more tamer and more fun, as rare gems would give small boosts and gains instead of blowing up the whole board and giving you literal millions of points. sometimes a cat would also shoot lasers at the end of the game. there were also no permanent upgrades to speak of, only equipping three powers at a time. back then, getting to one million points was a pretty hard achievement, so much so that the blitz facebook page would feature players who would get one million every now and then. if you want a taste of how blitz was back then, there's an old discontinued offline pc version that popcap released a long time ago that more closely resembled what blitz was like when it was actually good and fun.

[@ultmateragnarok8376]

So basically, power creep for the sake of making people spend money on the new stuff. A shame.

[@saphirasorra2203]

@@ultmateragnarok8376 I was once played it before, up until the newest update came out. At first I was able to catch up with the others without spending any money. But then when they released a new boost, I was unable to catch up, and I immediately got dominated by the 'whales'. At that point I quickly lost interest then I deleted it. Even though I knew I risked my progress will get wiped out (I lost my original FB account) permanently, I had no choice.

[@dynamo6503]

the shade thrown at Chuzzle was uncalled for man. my grandma had it downloaded on her computer and I remember us taking turns playing. and to this day, she still loves the game so much that she somehow managed to get the original downloaded onto her phone? no clue how she managed to do that without getting a virus or messing up her phone on some other way but like go grandma I guess.

[@daniapfel2825]

It’s true you’re lucky

[@the_egg_]

the egg learned many things about PopCap. The egg does not regret a second of time spent watching this video.

[@itz_erty]

Glad to see some non-drg videos, would love to see more

[@midday-moonlight6867]

They’ve actually made a bunch, I’d really recommend their history of Picross video, it’s really good

[@itz_erty]

@@midday-moonlight6867 holy shit slabby, what's up, weird seeing you here lol

[@midday-moonlight6867]

WAIT I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS YOU hahahaha@@itz_erty

[@glyndekari]

I needed to watch this video 100 times since last year, popcap games, specifically bejeweled, have been my life and soul for about 14 years now, and seeing this video in my feed is like seeing an old highschool friend who's kinda lost it but also cherish the moments you had together.

[@kiitaclyzm]

okay im sorry but I HAVE to defend chuzzle you can move them back and forth and they go woo-woo-woo and get dizzy and we're not going to acknowledge the fact that it's kind of weird popping these innocent fuzzy creatures and putting their eyeballs in a bottle. we're not gonna do that.

[@SlimeyZockt]

I really think it's sad how they started on the right track and somehow just lost their way on the journey. I really hope GSG wont fall into the same pattern. I know it is unlikely, but can you ever know beforehand?

[@zellency]

Nothing can describe the glorious bliss of waking up to a new sniss video essay, I love the editing style, writing, and silly goofiness

[@CiromBreeze]

I remember loving PopCap's games as a kid. Insaniquarium, Heavy Weapon and especially Zuma were my jam. As some other examples of companies being inspired by these games, I know Nintendo threw their hat into the ring with games like Actionloop (basically just Zuma) and Meteos (Bejeweled if you could only move pieces vertically and they shot off into space when you made matches, taking everything above them with it). There's also the Puzzle Quest series, which turns Bejeweled into a turn-based RPG where both players use the same board. I also find myself wondering if the devs behind Puzzle Pirates were ever inspired by PopCap, as they share a similar kind of feel. Weirdly enough, though? Never got into Peggle. I should probably fix that.

[@romanc7658]

Didnt expect you to talk about popcap but im all here for it

[@Cooky_LP]

7:06 Dynomite is my childhood, even though I was born 7 years after its release! A really very good video.

[@16Redrocko]

Always happy to see your beautiful mug on screen sniss, really excited whenever you cover topics like this.

[@tromsodocs]

Great video! I also made a video essay on PopCap earlier this year, so it's super cool to see that other people are interested in their story too.

[@sniss]

ill have to check it out!

[@liquidmustard9925]

Is this your first webcam video? And it's a popcap video?? This is a great day

[@DREADDWELLER]

Nah they've done a couple vids in this style before, like the fishing games one. Love em.

[@sniss]

i have many vids with me in it!

[@daniapfel2825]

​@@sniss Thanks for your video and Chuzzle is not worse. How could you say a bad opinion about it ? I’m sure you said that because you hate it

[@Daishi0861]

i appreciate your mini-doc style of presentation. if this kinda thing is something you'd be interested in doing more of (ie stuff outside of DRG), I'd definitely enjoy watching it as well!

[@No-ll3mh]

loving the variety content! happy to see you talk about anything that is interesting to you / motivates you to talk about it!

[@marekmuller1238]

I really didn't expect to enjoy this video this much! I learned new stuff, had to laugh a lot and generally had a really good time! So thank you for making it!

[@rudeboyspodcast]

Oh hell yeah i needed something to watch while on my 30 minute workout. Bless up, sniss, PERFECT timing

[@ayumuchorizo4486]

Danggg talking about PvZ and FB games just unlocked some memories. Used to spend all my free time playing them, and flash games! We also had this visual novel choose-your-adventure style game installed (forgot what it's called now because the title was pretty long, it was a japanese game with a crappy english translation lol) it's technically free but there were a couple of routes and endings locked behind a paywall - those were more like side stories anyway, so it's pretty much for completionists. But then freemium games became popular, and like any other old school game, this one also tried to keep up. I remember how they removed the original game from their website so you couldn't download it anymore, and instead replaced it with a "revamped", online version. They implemented a system where reading a scene costs 'energy': so you choose whether to wait an entire day just to read a couple minutes worth of lines, ask other players (or friends) for energy potions, OR you bust out your wallet and swipe to replenish. It's funny because this is totally the standard on modern visual novel apps (biggest offenders imo being dating sims marketed towards women called Otome Games), but back then it felt like such an unfathomable thing to do. ... and there's also another can of worms called gacha games, geez.

[@unarmedsalad4537]

the garden warfare series was my childhood and by god were they good, BFN was ok but wasn't what we as the player base wanted and it was really the last straw for PopCap.

[@sebastiankulche]

Before EA, Popcap ended with their classic games released on modern platforms of their era like PS3 and Xbox 360, and is sad that few people know of its existence because their clearly wanted to go with a bang, making it feel like a middle ground between a port, remaster and even kind of a remake. The PS3 version of PVZ which came with Heavy Weapon and Peggle may as well being imo one of the best PC to console ports ever made, as well as Popcap "last classic hurrah". Almost all of the Popcap games are better on other devices than PC, but is clearly that Plants Vs Zombies recieved the best treatment of all the HD ports. I think it really says something that the newest Peggle or Plants Vs Zombies games dont feel NEARLY as charming or as complete as their PS3 ports.

[@user-ox4ii2bw6x]

Insaniquarium SWEEP

[@iceage3604]

I beat all PvZ2 without spending a dime and to this day its my biggest achievement

[@sniss]

lets gooo

[@poncho3326]

Something worth noting about Zuma : the game is "heavily inspired" by the Japanse 1998 game Puzzle Loop (also called Ballistic), and there are debates about whether Zuma is an exemple of plagiarism or not. Personnaly I think Zuma stands on its own, especially with its very distinct visual and audio design, but it's undeniable that the core gameplay is lifted pretty directly from the japanse game.

[@n0sess]

you are the KZbinr I prefer eating my food and watching. Sniss is the goat

[@ImDaRealBoi]

Today I learned sniss is a bejeweled savant. Neat.

[@Cublex]

For what it's worth, the Bejeweled community has been keeping things alive with game mods and fangames. Bejeweled 3 has been more than doubled with new modes and quest sets, Twist also has new challenges and you can rotate both ways now, we can make custom puzzles for 2, Dijeweled is its entirely own beast with genuine honest-to-god online multiplayer, so on and so forth. There have been competitions and tournaments that I've (partially) competed in and it feels like new world records are being set every day. I think original PopCap can still be, if nothing else, happy with the legacy they've created. This video is absolutely fantastic, thank you for making it.

[@alexisrobinson353]

Insaniquarium was my childhood alongside games like Age of Empires and Command & Conquer - Popcap have always kinda been that developer I've mostly only heard about in passing, admittedly, so it's fun to hear about their whole thing!

[@evilscorbunny]

I miss PvZ. I remember the first time I played Garden Warfare back when it came out and it was easily one of the best and most addictive games I have ever played, same thing with GW2. 10 years already went by, game just turned 10 a few days ago and it’s sad to see the direction PopCap (and or EA) went with the franchise ever since Battle For Neighborville released. PvZ GW1 and GW2 were my favorite games and still are some of my favorites today, but I think it’s time has come where PopCap passes the torch to Deep Rock Galactic as my number 1 Favorite Game. Ghost Ship Games is just so Passionate and they want to make things projects that “We are proud of”. And for that I respect show huge respect for them!

[@Dwarfurious]

garden warfare was actually great i LOVED that, it felt like a class based team shooter that was casual so nobody really raged ever you could just hop in and play. GW2 was on sale recently so i picked thta up and its still got a few thousand actives

[@kittycat2863]

I did not know until today that I need a THX sweater. Wasn’t expecting Oxtogeddon or Peglin to be brought up either, neat indie game industry.

[@nattyw0rm]

it's 100 gecs merch :-)

[@kittycat2863]

@@nattyw0rm Thx.

[@Dwarfurious]

i really REALLY loved puzzlequest back in the day, that was my favorite all time gem matcher.

[@TheCrimsonV01d]

Astro pop was my bread and butter growing up. I would love to see a new age variation. And a game like that actually had colorblind assistance, which for the time I think was a huge accessibility plus for that kind of game where the matching colors was a huge part of the game. A phenomenal title through and through. I miss it.

[@maxxieboy271]

Mr sniss this video is amazing, so please please please make more! Good work ❤

[@Trafoder]

Damn, this video essay kicks ass! Why does this guy sound so familiar though… wait, it’s him?!

[@a2106p]

completely unrelated but YOUR HAIR IS BANGIN'

[@jiseishin]

Zooma scared me as a kid

[@PlebNC]

I can hear the escalating bwaaaAaAaAaAAAAAAAAAA coming from your shirt when I look at it, Sniss.

[@spyidr9340]

On xbox GW and GW2 are still popular and amazing games, but I definitely feel their fall of quality when playing BFN. It's good to finally see your face, btw!

[@jiseishin]

Garden warfare was my childhood I love that game

[@icetide9411]

I remember playing octogeddon, never knew it had influence from Popcap people. Looking back though, I'm not surprised

[@ravelia8601]

Good video, I played some PVZ1 and Zuma back in my teens, liked Zuma especially (it's actually really popular and known amongst older gamers in my country). Some of the local magazines dedicated to gaming had shareware versions of both these games on bonus CDs which came with them.

[@uskthedwarf]

I love your variety stuff

[@sniss]

thx!

[@nave_the_nomad8922]

The fuckin fish game was a core memory unlocked moment

[@servitorhosted]

Epic video. Games need to go back to prioritizing fun over profit or the industry will keep running dry :(

[@jotaa9660]

WTF 10:15 BRO TRIED TO PUT A PUFF-SRHOOM INB THE WATER LANE LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@spaceitself]

BEJEWELED MENTIONED YES

[@mr.productions327]

23:15 PvZ2 used to be so much better in 2013-2016 because 1. Less ads 2. No lootboxes 3. The game wasnt grindy 4. The worst gamemodes of all time weren't added yet 5. Leveling didnt exist yet 6. Seed packet plants didnt exist 7. It wasnt a gacha/live service game yet. 23:30 Also while the EA ceo suggested renting plants for money, that never got added until 2021 when renting plants were added with a "watch an ad" thing.

[@lrobin-is8dg]

ROCK AND STO- wait this isn't deep rock :0

[@Ludovianco]

That's the coolest sweatshirt I have ever seen

[@sniss]

thx!

[@El-Burrito]

Whoa is that a sniss on my screen?!

[@fuster7605]

When i saw irl sniss i heard vine boom sound effect play in my head

[@flytrapYTP]

This video is very relaxing 😌

[@unknownavenger3041]

original pvz and early pvz2 along with the 2 garden warfare are some of my favourite games to date. PvZ made me love strategy puzzle games while garden warfare shooters. Still pop the original PvZ and Garden warfare 2 for some nostalgia from time to time!

[@JudyHoppsHittingTheGriddy]

Bro Bejeweled 3 Is goated. I love PvZ as much as the next guy but that will always be my favorite Pop Cap game

[@B_Skizzle]

It’s wild learning that Bejeweled came out of a game called Diamond Mine because my favorite mode in Bejeweled 3 was also called Diamond Mine. Edit: Aaaaand you mentioned exactly that.

[@The_one_with_many_names]

Wow, i didnt expect that but i like it.

[@alexmaxwell3708]

since 2009. school was a pain to my future until when i saw PVZ I was blessed and made me think of what will my future be. i do wish UAE will help me learn how to make games or comics or something cool for animation or something entertaining. Hope i'll be the best new cartoonist ever. thanks PVZ for making my brains feel craaaazzzy!

[@juliankurniawan7555]

Zuma always in my heart

[@BlogingLP]

Man I wish the OG PVZ style would live on in other games I really love it and the first ever PVZ was the one who brought me into TD to begin with I still like TD, but I also would want to play a TD like the OG PVZ again

[@gnolfo]

Oh yeah, I played Zuma back on Windows XP, it was a good time.

[@thataintfalco7106]

It’s crazy these guys made PVZ and Peggle. Genuinely sad to hear they’ve become a topic of one of these videos

[@Bopl_]

Holy fuck I remember chuzzle

[@ariddreamlancer7335]

Funny man makes funny video about funny games.

[@El-Burrito]

Peggle and Plants vs Zombies are just some of the best casual games of all time

[@ChaosPootato]

Glorious mane. Makes me miss mine

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

I used to have long hair but I have really thin hair so it was not great to have

[@lg5891]

this video is really good dude!

[@tankomarcell789]

Damn Sniss looking fresh! Great vid!

[@Danfuldan]

Dude your hair is glorious

[@RazzleTheRed1]

Insaniquarium! Deluxe is the best game ever made, you feed fish, fight aliens and get money... What more could you possibly want in a game.

[@auru1325]

sniss's face: :L Sniss's voice: 🗿

[@WAFFENFABRIK]

You look like George Clanton's long lost twin. Great video btw B)

[@octogorb9853]

whats sad is also how EA set extreme conditions on PopCap and is the reason variants got removed in BFN. Its a sad story and i really hate to see the company i've loved since childhood go down like this due to EA in part.

[@sleepyvasi3498]

Really loving the drg unrelated content! This one’s really well made :D

[@fruitiusmaximus6941]

A lot of these games are just reskins of older classics that didn't pull a Nintendo and copyright the actual mechanics in game from ever appearing in other titles; Puzzle Bobble being the most obvious victim and Columns, a relatively unknown Sega game, became the base inspiration for people who I imagine remembered playing these games once or twice but never really got to relive the experience after that. Was kind of expecting to see the video focus on how supercell took over the mobile scene with Clash of Clans, capitalizing on Farmville's success at selling time and helping to further cement the microtransaction hell everyone went through in the years following

[@lowtideluke]

We makin it out of the Hoxxes burger king with this one!

[@stoneapollyon8313]

honestly wish garden warfare 1 did better, I loved that game to death and while the artstyle was a bit out there, i still think it was better than PVZ2. Y'know, before all the microtransactions

[@xanabomb0]

dang was your hair always that FABULOUS, need a beard to join it

[@turtwigontheweb]

as a longtime fan of bejeweled, thanks for making this video! i do want to say although the bejeweled blitz version that we have now is riddled with dumb things that basically turn the game into a jackpot machine, the very start of the blitz spinoff was a very early version of bejeweled 3 and was home to the wildest tech in the game's history known as the elite technique. it honestly had a stupid high skill ceiling and im kinda sad that it just devolved into microtransaction garbage (...the original blitz version also had powerups and the gold system lol)

[@turtwigontheweb]

there's also the more obscure blitz live for the xbox live that had a bejeweled twist like gamemode. that one's pretty goddamn good but good luck getting that in current year

[@TWTO8818]

When you did the Zumba sounds, you sounded like jerma and I recoiled out of fear. Also, I will NOT stand for the dying light slander.

[@degustablegerbil]

Really enjoying this format. More more more!

[@Pvinini]

Haven't watched the video (yet) but your hair is immaculate I had long hair a long time ago and it was so hard to take care of so I just didn't but yours looks so nice!

[@bartoooooooooo]

mfw u dropped this during my yearly PvZ playthru lol

[@gsjacobs]

if they didn't have all that income from games like Bookworm Adventures they would have been NONAFFLUENT

[@deluxeloy]

Man, if they did anything with the insaniquarium IP I'd be all over that. I'd also look into getting an autoclicker script, probably.

[@grahamcracker3282]

I literally grew up playing Plants versus zombies, peggle, and Zuma. I love Popcap games

[@reformingrobot6875]

Omg Sniss do be pretty wit it

[@snake867511]

This was a great video man. You rock

[@JuniPinPan]

Talismania is so underrated

[@finnie4394]

You should do a video like this about Below The Stone, I think you'd enjoy the game

[@metamorphh]

ngl I expected sniss to look like a gigachad

[@z1u512]

But if you close your eyes...

[@CODKraken7000]

btw pop cap makes shell shockers

[@Blaze57]

What’s the game at the end he where the mutant is destroying a building? It sounds like he said octagen or Octagain or even just octagon but nothing on Google brings up pictures of any game even remotely similar to that one (EDIT: nvm I found it)