From its humble beginnings as a variation on the tower defense genre, to its more recent foray into the realm of third-person shooters, the Plants vs. Zombies series has managed to maintain its popularity and evolve rather than continuing to iterate endlessly upon its now-iconic gameplay. While it may not represent another drastic shift in genre, a recently-released image could hint at a wider release for Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare.

Although the title is currently a Microsoft exclusive, Electronic Arts has released an image that mashes up one of the series’ peashooters with the titular hero from Sony’s Sly Cooper franchise. This is then accompanied by the text, “Fly Shooter: Shooters Just Got Weird.” For a shooter that has - up until now - been a Microsoft exclusive, this unexplained image raises quite a few questions.

The first of which, and arguably the most important, is whether this is hinting at the impending reveal of a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 release of the zany third-person shooter (check out our review). This wouldn't be outside of the realm of possibility, as the original Plants vs. Zombies managed to dip its roots in just about every modern platform imaginable: even World of Warcraft. With E3 quickly approaching, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn of PopCap’s intentions to bring their recent title Sony-side.

The developers have doubled down on the hint, following up their Sly Cooper tease with a Ratchet & Clank re-imagining. Check it out below:

This image also begs the question of whether Garden Warfare could someday receive downloadable content that not only builds upon a given theme, but also acts as a crossover between franchises (as was recently exhibited by Minecraft’s Halo Mash-Up Pack), which could end up being an exciting prospect.

While there are many who shrug off anything that might deviate from a series’ canon, there still remains a very real market for content that simply presents players with an entertaining, isolated experience within a game world they're familiar with. If PopCap and Sony were to develop DLC that crossed Ratchet & Clank or Sly Cooper with Plants vs. Zombies, gamers would likely jump at the absurdity and embrace it, especially in light of the game’s inherent wackiness.

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Currently though, neither EA or Sony have spoken as to the intent of the image. While it could very well be little more than a gag, it’s likely that the game will soon see its availability shifting to other platforms. With E3 2014 quickly approaching, this would be the most logical time for an announcement of that sort. As such, gamers should keep their eyes and ears open as the weeks unfold to reveal the coming gaming goodness that Los Angeles has in store. With EA promising an impressive showing at the event, it's sure to be an interesting year for gaming.

Do you think these images are a sign of crossovers with Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare? What absurd crossovers would you like to see occur in the current gaming sphere?

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Follow Ryan on Twitter @ThatRyanB.

Source: Polygon