The Oral History Of PopCap Games (Patreon)

MinnMax's Ben Hanson interviews key figures throughout the history of PopCap Games to tell the complete story of the studio behind massive successes like Bejeweled, Peggle, Plants vs Zombies, and more. From PopCap's cancelled games, to EA spending buying the studio for hundreds of millions of dollars, this is the most thorough look at the beloved studio yet. Thanks to our interviews Jason Kapalka, John Vechey, Laura Shigihara, Garth Chouteau, Anthony Coleman, Riana McKeith, Jeff Green, Matt Johnston, and Ellen Marett. This documentary exists because of Patreon supporters like you, so THANK YOU!

You can watch and share the video version of The Oral History of PopCap Games here - https://youtu.be/NwzxWLonObo 

To jump to a particular section of PopCap's history, check out the timecodes below...  

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:54 - Opening montage

00:02:32 - How PopCap started

00:10:50 - The origins of Bejeweled

00:27:28 - The "glory years"

00:47:15 - PopCap's greatest press

00:55:23 - The origins of Peggle

01:04:10 - Valve, Blizzard, and PopCap's collaborations

01:10:03 - Creating Plants vs. Zombies

01:21:12 - PopCap and Apple's iPhone

01:26:22 - Prototypes and cancelled games

01:40:03 - Gyromancer and "Final Fantasy Bejeweled"

01:42:29 - The problems with "Burrito"

01:49:27 - Introducing Jeff Green

01:51:35 - The rise of Facebook and social gaming

01:59:14 - Introducing PopCap Dublin

02:03:35 - PopCap's legendary parties

02:14:04 - Bookworm/PAX

02:18:05 - Creating 4th and Battery

02:22:47 - The PopCap podcast

02:24:37 - The EA acquisition

02:33:47 - What to do with hundreds of millions of dollars

02:53:43 - Bejeweled Blitz and the push for "monetization"

03:00:08 - The struggle of Plants vs Zombies 2

03:20:30 - Studio closures

03:23:10 - PopCap's life as an EA studio

03:38:47 - Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

03:41:50 - Peggle 2 and "the jump"

03:44:00 - Thoughts on modern PopCap

03:50:12 - In conclusion

03:56:15 - The final performance

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