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Plants vs. Zombies Nixes Jackson Character After Gentle Suggestion From Family Lawyers

5:13 p.m. · July 29, 2010 · by Mike Burr

The makers of the popular iPhone game Plants vs. Zombies got some unwelcome feedback about their product this week, and it wasn't a one star review on iTunes. Rather, lawyers representing the estate of Michael Jackson expressed their displeasure that a character in the game identified as "Dancing Zombie" was clearly Michael Jackson:

"The Estate of Michael Jackson objected to our use of the 'dancing zombie' in PLANTS vs. ZOMBIES based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson. After receiving this objection, PopCap made a business decision to retire the original 'dancing zombie' and replace it with a different 'dancing zombie' character for future builds of PLANTS vs.ZOMBIES on all platforms. The phase-out and replacement process is underway."

Lest we think the good folks at Pop Cap are profiteering ghouls, it should be noted that the game character predated Jackson's death, and was meant only as a nod to Thriller, not the singer's actual demise. iPhone users should also be aware that games containing the original Dancing Zombie will crash if they are updated. PopCap is currently working on a fix. [The Daily Swarm]