Fans’ hopes of a third game in the cult Alice series have been dashed after nearly six years of planning by creator American McGee and Patreon funding to put together a comprehensive Design Bible and pitch for the game.
McGee posted the update yesterday on his Patreon, explaining that after weeks of pitching to EA and subsequent review the publisher, which currently holds the rights to the franchise, opted not to fund development of the game, citing internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and details of the production proposal. EA reportedly also declined to sell or license the rights back to its creator.
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It’s not the first time that the new game, titled Alice: Asylum, has been pitched to EA but it seems like this latest rejection was the final nail in the coffin.
American McGee states in the Patreon update for the project that “At this point, we have exhausted every option for getting a new Alice game made. With those answers from EA, there is no other way forward with the project. As such, we will be hibernating this Patreon page and related pre-production activities. The content will remain in place but we’ll no longer present options for funding “Alice: Asylum” efforts via this (or any other) platform.
“Alice: Asylum is at an end.”
McGee also clarifies that he’s done with game development entirely, going so far as to say that even if someone was to convince EA to take the project on in the future he’d want no part in it.
Alice: Asylum has reached The End
After several weeks of review, EA has come back with a response regarding funding and/or licensing for "Alice: Asylum" – Alice had a good run but the dream is over. https://t.co/hyprIq9MpE#gamedev #aliceasylum pic.twitter.com/sIE3bKbaVY
— ? American McGee ???? (@americanmcgee) April 7, 2023
The previous game, Alice: Madness Returns, launched on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in June 2011 and carries a fairly healthy 75 rating on Metacritic with most reviews praising the game’s atmosphere and gameplay ideas while questioning parts of its execution.
