To add to that, gritty realistic games have their fans no doubt, even I do play a little R6 Siege on the side for example, but cartoony art styles age better, are generally more appealing to younger audiences, and are almost always more family friendly. It's not too hard to get parents to let their kids play the PvZ shooters, but imagine being 10 and asking to play F.E.A.R.?
Last night I had to jump into the multiplayer portal in GW2 to finish up some quests (Shoot down a cactus drone and get 3 triple vanquish streaks), and the TT lobby was full. This is on PC, the least populated platform, on a game that has a sequel, and is 5 years old, and only 3 of us were max rank. If this doesn't scream; 'make a new PvZ shooter, EA/PopCap!' I don't know what does.
Call it Garden Warfare 4, or Garden Warfare Re-imagined, or what ever works. Make sure it's not dealing with so many bugs that plague the games that are live even now, give us a lot to do from day one and add to that with DLC, bring back the old maps and add new ones, give us crossplay with all platforms (and obviously make sure hackers are not a thing), bring back modes people loved like Soil Survivors and Community Challenges, make Ops fun and exciting, balance it as best as possible (we can't expect perfect balance in a game with so many characters, but you can tune it in better than we have in any of the current shooters), support it and promote it well, communicate openly and regularly, and you'll have a winner.
I'd love to see old friends like @asabaida, @dwooten77 , and so many others come back and join in (and with crossplay, play games with), with a new shooter that celebrates the previous amazing games and yet still innovates to keep things fresh and exciting as well.