Electronic Arts will not fund the development of Alice: Asylumfor what should have been the third installment of the video game franchise created by American McGee. Not only that: EA, which owns the rights to the saga, denied McGee the assignment of the rights to the project. Following these decisions, and finding himself cornered and with no other options to make the game, McGee announced his retirement from the video game industry.
Recall that the series is based on the famous novel Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, but revisits it in a decidedly dark key. The previous two games, Alice e Alice: Madness Returnswere published by Electronic Arts in 2000 and 2011, directed by American McGee.
The Alice: Asylum project runs aground
Asylum would have told the origins of the protagonist, revealing how she lost her family in a fire and how she was locked up in an asylum. The game would also show her fictional world filled with strange and dangerous characters. McGee spent several years on the project, creating its design, concept art, game mechanics and story. All drafts that would have gone to compose a real bible of the game.
Despite all this work, EA has officially announced that they have no plans to make the game. The editor also explained that the Alice franchise is important intellectual property, thus refusing to cede the rights to the saga. As a result of this McGee has thanked the fansmaking it known that they no longer have ideas and strength to devote to a project that has now stalled.