Plants vs. Zombies franchise almost had a spin-off an action-adventure game in 2016, developed by PopCap Vancouver. According to IGN’s story, EA canceled the game to resource a new Star Wars game and then canceled it too.
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Code-named Project Hot Tub, the canceled game was an action-adventure game with similar elements to games like Uncharted and Batman: Arkham Knight in a family-friendly environment. In an open corridor progression, Project Hot Tub follows the story of two siblings who were sent back in time by an experiment, which explains the project’s codename (a reference to the Hot Tub Time Machine movie).
Project Hot Tub was due to be released in 2017. According to sources game had no deadline issues and no budget problems; it was just shut down to resource a new Star Wars game by Visceral Games. Which, ironically, was canceled when EA shut down Visceral Games, the studio behind Dead Space and Battlefield Hardline.
Both the new Plants vs. Zombies game and Star Wars games were inspired by Uncharted. Star Wars game even had Amy Hennig at the helm, best known for the first three Uncharted games. The reason behind the Star Wars game’s cancelation is unclear, as EA said in the announcement that the company would pivot the game itself, but it was shut down a while later.
