There’s a Petition to Bring Back 'Zombie Farm', but Whatever Happened to It?

Within the first few years of the iPhone’s existence (the first model dropped in June 2007) a game hit the Apple App Store that combined our obsession with zombies and farm simulation, making it one of the most addictive free games around — Zombie Farm. Cultivating zombies, raiding enemy farms, and earning money and brains, what more could you ask for?

Apparently nothing, because it quickly became one of the most downloaded games on iOS, racking up over 37 million downloads, according to PR Newswire. Zombie Farm remained a fan favorite for years, until May 2017, when it was mysteriously removed from the App Store. A petition was lodged on Change.org after its removal, and nearly a decade later, it’s still being signed in the hopes of bringing the game back. But what actually happened to Zombie Farm in the first place?

Zombie Farm was initially released in February 2010 by The Playforge, a leading mobile games developer. By August 2012, Saban Brands acquired The Playforge — and with it, all of its games, including Zombie Farm. At the time of the acquisition, Saban planned to expand its game lineup, which also included titles like Zombie Life and Tree World, into “licensing, merchandising, and media opportunities,” according to a press release shared by PR Newswire.

This was a big deal because Saban Brands also owned the Power Rangers franchise. Maybe you’ve heard of them?

After the acquisition, Zombie Farm remained on the App Store, and Zombie Farm 2 even launched, but by May 2017, both games had been abruptly removed. According to the organizer of a petition launched to bring the game back, the removal was due to “various issues the company never addressed and was unable to fix.”

Then, in 2018, Saban sold some of its most prized creations to Hasbro, including its Power Rangers franchise and other brands like Popples, My Pet Monster, Treehouse Detectives, and Luna Petunia, in a deal valued at $522 million, according to a Hasbro press release. While it’s unclear what exactly led Saban to sell these valuable properties, it’s possible that underlying factors made it difficult for the company to maintain smaller games like Zombie Farm alongside its bigger brands.

Even though Zombie Farm and its sequel has been off the Apple App Store for nearly a decade, fans aren’t ready to let it go. So determined, in fact, that a petition was launched on Change.org demanding its return. The creator of the petition says the game’s reputation took a hit after Saban took over, but they’re still pushing to bring it back.

But it’s unclear who currently holds the licensing rights, since Saban Brands no longer exists and sold most of its assets to Hasbro in 2018. That, plus, Saban reportedly sold the rights to Zombie Farm and Zombie Farm 2 to Behaviour Interactive back in 2015.

Still, fans aren’t giving up hope of one day being reunited with their flower zombies and garden zombies. The petition has racked up over 7,000 signatures, as of this writing, and new ones are still being added in 2025. Clearly, Zombie Farm hasn’t been forgotten by its devoted fans.