My Open Letter to EA: Don’t Lock the Doors to Wonderland. This Is Why Alice: Asylum Still Matters and How we can Save the Game.
How can we save her mind, if you won't let her exist? You know what really hurts? When the thing that gave you hope in the middle of your mental health mess—the dark, dreamy mirror you held up to your soul—gets shelved. Abandoned. Not because it wasn’t good. But because some corporate algorithm said, “Meh.” That’s what happened in April 2023 when EA officially said “no thanks” to Alice: Asylum —the third chapter in American McGee’s twisted, gorgeous retelling of Alice in Wonderland . McGee had poured his entire heart (and the hearts of 10,000+ fans on Patreon) into creating a Design Bible, full production plan, and pitch-perfect proposal. EA still said no. Not just “we won’t make it,” but also “you can’t either.” They declined to license the IP to him or anyone else. So basically, they locked the door to Wonderland and swallowed the key. American McGee was crushed. He said he was “emotionally quite destroyed,” and then—he retired. Just like that. The Mad Hatter packed up and left ...