EA won’t let American McGee make another Alice game

American McGee’s attempt to develop a third installment of his fan-favorite Alice series “is over”.

In a public statement posted on McGee’s Patreon, the developer said it had “exhausted all options to create a new Alice game” after intellectual property holder Electronic Arts reportedly “decided to hand over the project to the based on an internal analysis of intellectual property, market conditions, and details of the production proposal”.

“Alice: Asylum” Patreon Trailer

Shortly after the completion of the design bibleI resumed discussions with Electronic Arts regarding our efforts to create a new game,” says McGee. “They received the Design Bible and a Production Plan (produced in collaboration with Virtuos Games) outlining the schedule, budget, team and design for production of the new game.

“After several weeks of review, EA came back with a response regarding funding and/or licensing of Alice: Asylum. On the issue of funding, they ultimately decided to pass the project on based on internal analysis intellectual property, market conditions and details of the production proposal.

Despite passing on the project, however, it appears that EA was also unwilling to part with the license.

“On the licensing issue, they responded that Alice is an important part of EA’s overall catalog of games, and they are not ready to sell or license it at this time,” added McGee. “At this point, we have exhausted all options to create a new Alice game. With these responses from EA, there is no other way to move forward with the project.”

McGee ends by stating that he has “no other ideas or energy to apply to making a nice Alice game”, and confirmed that he has “no control over Alice’s IP and no ability to create a new game. He also thanked the artists and designers who had worked on the project so far, which was “funded through Patreon.”

“Finally, I want to send a bittersweet thank you to our Patreon supporters,” McGee said. “I know this is not the outcome we were hoping for. And I feel a mix of emotions that makes me sick at the thought of all the money, hope, ideas and love you have. invested in this effort over the years. We knew in this adventure that failure was a possibility, but we wanted to believe in impossible things – and we had fun doing it until reality set in in our wonderland.

“It’s often said that when one door closes, another opens. It’s trite but true. And I hope for all of you, this closing will bring more adventures and dreams to life.”

American McGee unveiled the Full Story for Alice: Asylum, the third installment in Mysterious Studios’ incredibly dark take on Alice in Wonderland, in August 2021.

The successor to Alice: Madness Returns in 2011, Alice: Asylum was part of McGee’s unique “crowd design process” and was developed in consultation with his more than 3,000 Patreon contributors.

As Wes summed it up a few years ago, McGee was the creative director of the title released by EA in 2000 American McGee’s Alice. It became cult and was followed by Alice: Madness Returns in 2011. Fans wondered – and continually questioned McGee – about a third Alice game since.