Fan revival of Plants vs. Zombies 3 (2020 Version) has been unfortunately Taken Down

It's time for a second funeral everyone. The long awaited fan revival of the 2020 version of Plants vs. Zombies 3 from Team Rebuilt has received a takedown request from EA/PopCap, and it was taken offline. This revival was released on September 30, meaning it lasted for just about three weeks. Fortunately for the team, they weren't handed any legal papers.

Not everything is all doom and gloom though, as PopCap's community team has informed Team Rebuilt that an official mod policy is in the works. It'll be supportive of community projects on classic PvZ games, so it's fair to expect more of those in the future.

For a quick recap on what this version of Plants vs. Zombies 3 was like - it had a 3D art style and portrait orientation, with a redesigned 5x8 lawn. It also introduced mechanics like automatic sun generation and Taco Time, which allowed players to reposition plants and grant them special abilities using tacos (yum).

This version of the game entered soft launch in select regions in February 2020, didn't receive very positive feedback from players, leading to it being removed in November 2020. If you missed out on the soft launch and wanted to try the game, then you missed out yet again!

Feel free to read the official statement from Shadowlistic, posted on the Rebuilt Workshop Discord server and X/Twitter:

Hello everyone,

Today we have some sad news to bring, regarding Plants vs. Zombies 3 Rebuilt.

We have received a request to take the game down from EA/PopCap. In simpler terms, this unfortunately means that we need to shutdown PvZ3 Rebuilt and all of its online services.

While this is unfortunate for us and for the game's playerbase, we ask that you do not harass any employees from EA/PopCap over this. While the circumstances and the shutdown of the game are unfortunate, their reasoning was understandable and they have been as kind as possible when it comes to letting us know what the issues were and what we needed to do, rather than handing us a formal DMCA or a C&D.

PopCap's community team let me know they are working on an official mod policy that will be supportive of community projects on classic PvZ games, so look out for more from us about projects in that area.

We thank you all for the support you have given to the project, and hope you stick around for future Rebuilt releases, especially regarding PvZ. Thank you for reading and your understanding.

I'm a bit annoyed I didn't record any gameplay before it was taken offline, but what can you do.