American McGee Ends Game Development Pursuits as EA Rejects Alice: Asylum

Following Electronic Arts' decision to decline funding for Alice: Asylum, American McGee has announced his departure from the game development scene. The proposed game was intended to be the next installment in the Alice series, succeeding American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns. McGee will now focus on his personal life and the family-operated online store, Mysterious. In a Patreon blog post, McGee shared that he reinitiated discussions with EA after completing a crowdfunded design bible for Alice: Asylum. However, EA opted not to fund the project, citing internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and production proposal details. The publisher also expressed reluctance to license or sell the Alice IP, considering it a vital part of their game catalog. McGee stated, "All avenues for creating a new Alice game have been explored and exhausted," and expressed his decision to step away from game development, including any potential future Alice projects. He has put his Patreon page on hiatus, and while backers can still access existing content, such as the design bible, further funding options for Alice: Asylum are no longer available.