American McGee is leaving game dev following rejection of Alice: Madness Returns sequel
A TV adaptation is still in the works, though.
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Some bad news for Alice: Madness Returns fans, as creator American McGee has said that a proposal for a new game has been rejected.
In a new Patreon post from American McGee titled "End of the Adventure," the creator of the cult classic series has shared the news that fans shouldn't expect a new game, as EA has rejected any potential sequel. McGee set up the Patreon in order to help fund a design bible for Alice: Asylum, the hypothetical sequel, which he's built up over the past few years. However, according to McGee's post, EA has rejected funding a sequel.
"After several weeks of review, EA has come back with a response regarding funding and/or licensing for Alice: Asylum," reads the post. "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 catalogue, and selling or licensing it isn’t something they’re prepared to do right now."
Essentially, it sounds like EA doesn't think it can make any money off of the project if it were to get made by directly funding it (the lack of licensing is probably also money related, as all things are). McGee goes on to explain that because of EA's response, "there is no other way forward with the project," which means the Patreon page has been hibernated. You'll still be able to view content shared on the Patreon, but there won't be any more coming in the future.
McGee also noted that with this, he's 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." He also wrote that even if someone manages to convince EA to make Asylum, he isn't interested anymore, with all focus going into his family and their business Mysterious which makes a range of things including some honestly quite quite rabbit plushies.
An unfortunate end to a series beloved by fans, though oddly it will live on as a TV series. Guess EA is happy to licence it out in certain situations.