Skip to main content

EA says reports Apple paid for Plants vs Zombies 2 iOS exclusive ‘an unfortunate misunderstanding’

Yesterday a story popped up Giant Bomb claiming that EA executive Frank Gibeau said Apple had paid the company a “truckload of money” to launch PopCap’s much anticipated Plants vs Zombies 2 title as an iOS exclusive. Apple quickly denied the comments in a brief statement following the story and said that no money was exchanged with the publisher. As if that wasn’t enough, EA representatives today issued an official statement on the matter saying that the comment was taken out of context (via PocketGamer):

“A comment from an internal meeting taken out of context has created an unfortunate misunderstanding,” says EA’s statement.

“Reports of a paid relationship between Apple and EA are factually inaccurate, and we apologise for any confusion.”

Gibeau’s comments were clearly taken out of context, and we tend to believe that Apple didn’t offer up any cash in exchange for Plants vs Zombies 2 landing on iOS before Android. But what did he really mean with his “truckload of money” comment? Perhaps EA knew it would receive favorable placement in the App Store as a much hyped iOS exclusive?

There are a lot of unanswered questions about how Apple goes about featuring and ranking apps on the App Store, but it’s big money for developers who often see enormous boost in revenue and downloads when featured on the store.

Last month a report from Fiksu noted changes in how Apple ranks apps and seems to be incorporating user ratings and other new metrics, but this is the first we’ve heard of Apple possibly working with developers to have apps launch exclusively on iOS.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. Erik (@Elokens_) - 11 years ago

    Just another Game App on iOS before Android, not much of a surprise here.

  2. rettun1 - 11 years ago

    They were prolly referring to the truck loads of money that everybody has to pay if they want to have anything useful in that game. In app purchases are cool but I think they can be taken to far

    • Erik (@Elokens_) - 11 years ago

      I am about 1/2 threw and still haven’t purchased anything ‘extra’

      • rettun1 - 11 years ago

        Right on. I never actually played the second iteration, I just saw the reviews on iTunes of tons of people saying the IAP’s were annoying.

        Since the game itself is free, it’s understandable that there would be a lot of paid content tho

  3. drtyrell969 - 11 years ago

    The deal was an AD Placement swap. No money, just CREDIT.

  4. Stan Tan - 11 years ago

    lol.. they have it in china localized version for Android but somehow the English version took a longer time to localized.. amazing!

  5. Ryan Terry - 11 years ago

    Wha-wha-whaaat? iOS gets an app exclusive, or an app several months before it’s released on Android? I’ve never heard of such a thing! Really though, I think we’ll (fellow Android users) be seeing less of this in the coming years. Fact is, Apple doesn’t have the stranglehold it once did, whether you love or hate them. Android is quickly pulling ahead in the race, and developers will be forced to open their eyes and recognize this, eventually. In the meantime, we’ll wait patiently, laughing at this attempt to encourage consumers to choose iOS over Android because of… a game. And before someone takes this as the age-old and always-pointless argument over which OS is better, allow me to say: Don’t.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.