Recently PopCap just lunched Plants vs. Zombies 2 in App store.  Before that, Plants vs. Zombies 1 had been a huge success for PopCap.  The game itself is fun, creative and attractive with good graphics and modern computational technology animations which had become popular worldwide in a short time.  Due to the success of the first generation, Plants vs. Zombies 2 has reached twenty five million downloads so far and has become the most popular app in many countries.  After it has been released, the game is being criticized by Chinese media and users particularly for the total inner purchase of its customized version in China is twice as the version offered elsewhere and all the levels are significantly after some comparison which enforces the inner purchases from Chinese consumers.

In my opinion, the company was successful in marketing by targeting people mainly from generation Y because they can really see the value by downloading and installing the game on their smart phones and tablets which they can play conveniently without going to a store to line up for the game.  They even offer free price for Plants vs. Zombies 2 to make almost everyone can afford it.  Furthermore, the game itself fantastically designed so everyone who has played it talks about it among friends to let more people know about the game.  Lastly, it keeps developing new games like Plants vs. Zombies 2 to maintain its customers’ loyalties and attract new customers to their market.

However, by increase the price and level difficulty in Chinese market only is unethical compare to the fair prices and difficulties offered elsewhere from my perspective.  When people play this game, they feel all the levels are so hard so they have to make all the inner purchases.  I think offering significantly higher prices in just China makes people there feel like discrimination and disrespect after some comparison of the price and difficulty with different versions.  Many Chinese users claimed that the game can no longer provide us with the value and satisfaction but instead, it has become more money consuming.  According to some media, many consumers gave negative opinions about the game and even some feels the game is just to steal money.  As a result, Plants vs. Zombies 2 has become controversial in the Chinese market and the downloads are fewer compare to other countries.  Now PopCap has realized this situation and promised to update the version in China to make it less money consuming and more fun for the consumers.  Similarily, other apps also did the same thing as PopCap and they all turned out to be losing customers according to statistics.  I believe a company treats all of its customers equally is one of the essentials to stand out in the competitions so in this case, PopCap should charge approximately the same price in the globe.