Try following code it will work with if statement as well.
define( 'MY_PLUGIN_PATH', plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) ); function catch_plugin_template( $template ) { if( is_page_template('page_template.php') ){ $template = MY_PLUGIN_PATH . '/page_template.php'; } return $template; } add_filter('template_include', 'catch_plugin_template');