Fans of American McGee’s Alice series have been eagerly awaiting news on the potential third installment, “Alice: Asylum.” Unfortunately, according to American Mcgee, Electronic Arts has decided not to fund or license the project, marking an end to the series’ development. Over the past few years, a dedicated team of artists, writers, designers, modelers, and producers have put together a 414-page Design Bible, detailing the complete vision for the third chapter in Alice’s video game adventures.
After the Design Bible’s completion, American McGee resumed talks with EA, presenting both the Design Bible and a Production Plan created in collaboration with Virtuos Games. However, following weeks of review, EA declined to fund the project, citing internal analysis of the intellectual property, market conditions, and production proposal details. Furthermore, EA stated that they are not currently prepared to sell or license the Alice IP. This information was revealed in a recent posting on American McGee’s Patreon page.
On the question of funding, they have ultimately decided to pass on the project based on an internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and details of the production proposal. On the question of licensing, they replied that “Alice” is an important part of EA’s overall game catalog, and selling or licensing it isn’t something they’re prepared to do right now.
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.
With EA’s response, all options for creating a new Alice game have been exhausted, leading to the hibernation of the Patreon page and associated pre-production activities. American McGee also announced that he has no further ideas, energy, or interest in pursuing new game ideas in the current game development environment. He expressed no desire to be involved in any future Alice-related development.
The original game, American McGee’s Alice, was a third-person action-adventure game released in 2000 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Based on Lewis Carroll’s novels, the game featured a dark, violent version of Wonderland and centered on Alice, who retreats to Wonderland after the traumatic death of her family. The sequel, Alice: Madness Returns, was released in 2011, following Alice’s journey to rid herself of trauma and uncover the truth about her past.
Ultimately, the fate of the Alice IP remains with EA. As of now, the prospect of a third game in the series, “Alice: Asylum,” has come to a definitive end.
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