Alice: Asylum Is Officially Dead
American McGee has said the long-awaited Alice: Asylum will not move forward because EA will not license it.
Alice: Asylum, a sequel to the Alice duology, is now officially dead since EA is no longer interested in creating any more titles for the gaming series, most likely due to the ongoing financial struggle within the company—which resulted in sweeping layoffs—and the entire gaming industry. Still, the IP, which EA also isn’t willing to sell, could become a TV series.
The unfortunate update regarding the fate of Alice: Asylum comes directly from the social media of its creator American McGee, stating that Electronic Arts has refused to fund the development or consider licensing options. This effectively cements the Alice IP in place, making the third installment in the iconic gaming series dead as it can be. Unless EA decides otherwise. American McGee also thanked dedicated fans of the gaming series for holding out hope for another game in one of the most interesting—now that’s an interesting choice of words—retellings of a popular fairy tale.
McGee has spent the last few years of support to create a design bible for Alice: Asylum—a massive document containing core game design concepts, narrative goals, and concept art. Once the document was complete, he approached EA with the design, as well as a production plan for one of the most anticipated games in the gaming sphere, in hopes of receiving further support and funding for the game’s production. However, that wasn’t the case, as EA decided to pass on the project due to an internal analysis of the IP and marketing conditions—read: low chances of microtransactions.
However, the gaming giant also passed on the opportunity to license the Alice IP and allow other gaming studios to actually make Alice: Asylum because, according to EA, Alice is an important part of the company’s overall game catalog. We’d like to point out that the first two installments in the Alice series, the 2000’s American McGee’s Alice and 2011’s Alice: Madness Returns were absolute hits and considerably better than anything EA currently has to offer—the exceptions here being Apex Legends, The Sims, and the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
American McGee has spearheaded the previous Alice releases and has been trying to lift Alice: Asylum off the grounds for nearly a decade. He even opened a Patreon page to help support the creation of both the design and production plan. He did initially acknowledge that the success of the projects ultimately depends on EA Games entirely, and with EA’s current decision about the title, there’s no way to move the project forward.
In addition to breaking the bad news to the gaming crowd awaiting Alice: Asylum, American McGee also stated that he’s saying goodbye to the entire Alice series and the gaming production overall, as he no longer has any energy left to apply towards getting Alice: Asylum or any other Alice–related idea approved and subsequently released. He also stated that he has no interest in pursuing any new gaming interest in the current game development environment, which has seen gaming giants pursuing blockbusters suck as Dead Space and completely sidelining niche releases.
