PopCap: why Bejeweled 3 wasn't online

By Fred Dutton Published 11 February, 2011

Plus, updates on iOS version.

Online leaderboards and multiplayer modes were left out of Bejeweled 3 due to "priorities and deadlines", developer PopCap has explained.

"We love a good leaderboard as much as the next person," PR chief Garth Chouteau told Pocketful of Megabytes, "but felt that, like its predecessors, Bejeweled 3 was focused on the solo gaming experience and contained enough new takes on the match-three game mechanic to please most fans of the genre.

"We may add 'connected functionality' to Bejeweled 3 down the road, who knows?" he hinted.

The latest entry in PopCap's enormo-selling match-three behemoth launched on PC back in December, winning a shiny 8/10 from Eurogamer's Christian Donlan. While its predecessor was ported to almost every platform known to man, Chouteau wasn't quite ready to confirm Bejeweled 3's next step.

"We're traditionally somewhat slow to adapt our games to other platforms after launching them on PC/Mac," he explained when asked if an iOS version was in the works. "Bejeweled 3 for iPhone/iPad is probably something we'll do...eventually...!"

PopCap's latest release is the PlayStation 3 version of tower defence hit Plants vs. Zombies, which arrived on PSN earlier this week.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (8) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jivemaster #1 1 year ago

    Aren't their games essentially flash games? I doubt it would be hard to port.

    Not releasing the game on portables on release of the pc/mac versions is nuts. I (and I imagine most people) only ever play bejeweled on a phone because its the kind of game that you can jump into while waiting for someone or on the bus or something to kill time. If I'm at home I normally play real games.

    Plus $20AU for a puzzle game is insanely expensive. Even puzzle quest 2 is half the price and its far more game than this!

  • login_name #2 1 year ago

    It probably has something to do with that fact that it (or at least a cut down version of it) was a release title on Windows Phone 7 devices.

    Exclusivity is a bitch.

  • randompanda #3 1 year ago

    Wouldn't it be particularly difficult to port a flash game to an OS infamous for not supporting flash, Jive?

  • jonsaan #4 1 year ago

    Just play Bejewelled 2. It's the same game.

  • Lord_Gremlin #5 1 year ago

    I wonder why Bejeweled 2 is on PSN and Bejeweled 3 is not. It really makes no sense.

  • Collymilad #6 1 year ago

    PopCap?

    More like PopCrap.

    Ahahahahahaha.

  • dingo75 #7 1 year ago

    Steam Weekend-Deal please!

    kthx

  • LetsGo #8 1 year ago

    I wIsh someone would ask why the console versions of Plants vs. Zombies wasn't online (only local multiplayer) when Peggle was online.