Alice Asylum canned by EA after years of planning

Not even the Mad Hatter can save this one! Infamous studio killer Electronic Arts has canned American McGee’s Alice Asylum. The third game in the gothic action series, American McGee’s swansong has been in pre-production for years, making its cancellation a surprise to hardcore fans.

Originally founded on Patreon, where the game racked up almost 3,000 interested fans, McGee had been in talks with Electronic Arts to publish Asylum. McGee confirmed on Twitter that his pitch for the third title in the series has been rejected by EA and, consequently, won’t be moving forward as intended.

The original game in the series, American McGee’s Alice, came out in 2000 on PC, after McGee had left ID Software. It was a unique grim look into the story famously narrated by Lewis Carrol, with a dark take on Wonderland. In 2011 came a sequel, definitely more action oriented than its predecessors, Alice: Madness Returns.

Since 2011, the designer had been trying to fund and make Asylum a reality. So much so that all these useless efforts apparently meant, for McGee, the end of his career as a game developer. In sharing the news, the developer has commented that he has no interest in continuing to work in the industry.

"For my part, I have also reached an endpoint with Alice and 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." McGee commented.

The designer also added that, should any developers have any interest in continuing the Alice license in the future, they should not count on his help or interest. "From this point forward, I have no desire to be involved with that or any other Alice-related development."

It is a sad day for all rabbit chasers and Queen of Hearts around the world indeed.