American McGee’s Alice Madness Returns sequel dropped by EA

The sequel to Alice Madness Returns, titled Alice Asylum, has been scrapped by EA according to designer American McGee. The potential action-adventure game had been in Patreon-funded limbo for some time, as fans of the cult classic helped make the design document eventually seen by EA a reality, but the publisher has decided not to move forward with the series, despite calling it an “important” part of their library.

It’s no secret that game designer Amercian McGee has wanted to make a sequel to the Alice duology – American McGee’s Alice and Alice: Madness Returns – for quite some time. McGee has been working on the early stages of this fabled third game, Alice: Asylum, for a while too, even going as far as to publish an over-400-page design document after it was funded by fans of the cult classic.

McGee has now confirmed that the dream is dead, as publisher EA won’t fund the game, while also it also refuses the sell or license the series, calling it an “important” part of its library, according to McGee.

“After several weeks of review, EA has come back with a response regarding funding and/or licensing for ‘Alice: Asylum’,” American McGee writes on Patreon. “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 catalog, and selling or licensing it isn’t something they’re prepared to do right now.

According to McGee, both the Patreon page and pre-production of Alice: Asylum will enter hibernation at this stage, as “with those answers from EA, there is no other way forward with the project.”

After Alice: Madness Returns was abruptly removed and readded to Steam due to what McGee believed at the time was an innocent mistake, talk of the cult classic series’ return has been at an all-time high.

McGee also uses the Patreon post to highlight all the “amazing artists and designers” who were funded to help bring Alice: Asylum to life, but McGee adds that he’s done with the series, and game production in general.

“I have no other ideas or energy left to apply toward getting a new Alice game made,” McGee writes. “Nor do I have any interest in pursuing new game ideas within the context of the current environment for game development.

“If someone does manage to convince EA to make ‘Asylum,’ I would like to make clear that, from this point forward, I have no desire to be involved with that or any other Alice-related development.”

While you can still check out what Alice: Asylum’s narrative outline was going to be, this looks to be it for the fantasy game. Even though Alice: Asylum looks to be lost, you can check out all the upcoming PC games of this year and beyond, and maybe something will fill that void.