Plants vs. Zombies HD (植物大战僵尸 HD) iOS edition to be pulled from stores; online services end June 24

The shutdown

It has been reported that Electronic Arts (EA) will remove the iOS edition of the classic tower‑defense Plants vs. Zombies HD (植物大战僵尸 HD) from digital stores and will close its online services on June 24. The news, first noted by Chinese tech site IT Home (IT之家), follows EA's recent decision to shutter servers for some versions of Battlefield: Hardline. Short and sharp: the game will remain playable locally for some users — but its online life is over.

What changes for players

According to reports, customers who previously purchased the iOS title will still be able to re‑download the app from the App Store on devices where it was bought, but they will lose any online functionality. That means cooperative multiplayer, in‑app purchases tied to servers, leaderboards and other online features will stop working once the server switch is flipped. For many classic mobile games, online services are not an add‑on — they are integral to the experience.

Related closures and technical limits

EA has also announced the PlayStation 3 version of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (植物大战僵尸：花园战争) will permanently lose online support on April 28, reportedly because the aging PS3 build cannot be technically updated to meet current infrastructure needs. These moves mirror a broader industry pattern: publishers retire older titles and platforms to cut maintenance costs or because legacy code and server stacks become unsupportable.

Why this matters

For Western and Chinese readers alike, the case highlights persistent questions about digital ownership and preservation. In markets such as China, where mobile distribution dominates and centralized app stores are king, server shutdowns can erase features paid for by users overnight. Who really owns a purchased app if its servers can be switched off? Policymakers and preservationists are asking the same question — and the industry is quietly facing the consequences.