EA cancels an eagerly awaited sequel, leaving fans devastated.
Much to everyone’s dismay, EA has rejected a proposal for another installment in one of its beloved action-adventure series and won’t sell the license to let anyone else create it either.
Eurogamer reports that American McGee, director of Alice and its sequel Alice: Madness Returns, has been working on a third game titled Alice: Asylum for some time now. Thanks to Patreon supporters’ generosity, McGee and a team of designers, artists, writers, producers and modellers recently completed work on a design bible for the threequel; however after restarting talks with EA with this proposal in hand, EA rejected it.
“After weeks of review, EA has finally provided a response regarding funding and/or licensing for Alice: Asylum,” McGee wrote in a statement posted to Patreon. “Funding has been declined based on an internal analysis of IP, market conditions and details of the production proposal. As for licensing rights, they replied that Alice is an integral part of EA’s overall game catalog – they do not plan on selling or licensing it at this time.”
“At this point,” he continued, “we have exhausted all options for getting a new Alice game made. With EA’s answers, there is no other path forward with the project. Therefore, we will be hibernating this Patreon page and related pre-production activities. The content will remain intact but there will no longer be funding opportunities through this (or any other platform). Alice: Asylum has come to an end.”
Fans are understandably distraught: “EA has truly let us down. Thank you and all your team for all the hard work, passion and love put into Alice – it will forever remain in our hearts. Wishing you all the best with your health and future endeavors,” tweeted @Kurumivtuber. “As I’m sure you and your team are feeling, your vision with Alice games spoke to me in an unbreakable way that no other game ever did – I’ve played Madness multiple times; starting it again last week – although its story may not continue, its legacy will live on,” wrote @BrizzleLass. “While it may not continue, its legacy will live on forever,” tweeted @BrizzleLass. “While the story may end, its legacy will live on forever,” tweeted @BrizzleLass
McGee reiterated his lack of control over the Alice IP, and if a third game ever does come out, he no longer wishes to be involved.
