Plants vs. Zombies 3 is ‘soft launching’ in a few countries

It’s been almost five years since EA announced the third installment of the popular Plants vs. Zombie mobile game, and now it’s nearly here. EA has revealed that Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia (PvZ3) has soft-launched in select countries, including the UK, Netherlands, Australia, Philippines, and Ireland.

Just like previous installments, PvZ3 is a tower defense game that tasks you with using animated plants to fend off a horde of zombies. EA says the game features “new and returning characters,” along with gameplay that reflects the “classic combat of the first game.” PvZ3 will be free to play, but it will still have microtransactions.

The original Plants vs. Zombies was released on PC and Mac in 2009 before making its way to mobile devices. The game expanded to even more platforms following the acquisition of its developer — PopCap Games — by EA in 2011. It also led to the development of Plants vs. Zombies 2, which came out in 2013. That’s also around the same time the game switched from costing a flat $2.99 fee to becoming free to play.

EA says PvZ3 will become available in more countries “at a later date” while it collects feedback during the soft launch period.