According to American James McGee the third and final entry in the Alice trilogy, Alice: Asylum has been canceled by EA. In the Patreon post McGee noted that “Over the past few years, your support has made possible a constant stream of creative output by a team of artists, writers, designers, modelers, and producers.”
Further on in the Patron post, McGee outlines that after “several weeks of review” EA ultimately decided to pass on the project “based on an internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and details of the production proposal.” Alongside this, according to McGee EA currently isn’t looking to sell or license out the Alice IP at this current time.
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.
American James McGee – Designer of American McGee’s Alice
McGee expressed disappointment as he noted that the team had “exhausted every option for getting a new ‘Alice‘ game made.” McGee noted that the decision to make a new ‘Alice‘ game rests solely on the shoulders of EA as he noted “I have no control over the Alice IP and no ability to make a new game happen. That control and ability rest entirely with EA.”
Alongside the news of the ‘Alice‘ game getting canceled McGee also noted that this would be the endpoint of his career:
For my part, I have also reached an endpoint with “Alice” and with game production in general. I have no other ideas or energy left to apply toward getting a new Alice game made. Nor do I have any interest in pursuing new game ideas within the context of the current environment for game development… If someone does manage to convince EA to make “Asylum,” I would like to make clear that, from this point forward, I have no desire to be involved with that or any other Alice-related development.
American James McGee – Designer of American McGee’s Alice
Before closing off the Patreon post McGee thanked the game’s Patreon supporters outlining that this isn’t the outcome anyone had hoped for. It’s certainly a sad day for any fans of this original series as the Design Bible for Alice: Asylum outlines some truly interesting and spooky ideas for the game. If the project gets greenlit in the future it’ll be interesting to see what an Alice project looks like without McGee’s involvement.
