American McGee, creator of the macabre Alice series, has explained why he's promoting a petition to convince Electronic Arts to greenlight a third installment of the horror-adventure franchise.

The petition, which rose from within the fan community, has almost succeeded in realizing its 15,000 signatory goal.

In an interview with IGN McGee admitted surprise at the response to the petition, and told us he'd put his weight behind the campaign as "signing the petition is as good a place to start as any [...] to help our Alice fans at EA make the case that the world is ready for another game."

"While I do maintain an ongoing dialog with several folks at EA, our conversations are not exclusively about Alice," McGee says. "When we do speak of Alice, there's interest, but getting a solid commitment takes time. Remember, there was almost a decade between the first Alice game and the second."


"My thinking is that the original Alice was in a group of early 3D games that really showed the world how art and games could intersect to create something really beautiful," McGee adds. "It was artistically cutting-edge in that way. Alice is about a subtle mix of action, horror, adventure, puzzles, and story... we almost got it right with the last game. I'd certainly be taking lessons from previous experience to get that mix right with a new game.""A lot of factors influence decision making at a big publisher like EA. I wouldn't dare to guess how that sort of decision gets made these days (last I worked at EA was 15 years ago!), but I am rooting for those fans of Alice who are at EA today and trying to help get the series going again."

 

If the fan community -- and McGee himself -- were successful in convincing Electronic Arts to approve a third game, what could we expect to see?

"Story-wise, we've already got a path to take with our Alice: Otherlands concept. There's also room to explore in the middle... Alice's time at the asylum, her earlier years (who knows what darkness lurks there?), and so on. Ultimately, whatever we do needs to remain true to Alice as a character and to honor the expectations of the audience."

"I know the fans absolutely do not want any of the 'evils' of modern day gaming - DLC, micro-transactions, etc.," he adds. "For my part, I do wish VR was more advanced (or would be in an advanced state by the time we finished a new Alice)."

"I think Alice would be an amazing showcase for VR."

We've reached out to Electronic Arts -- which own the rights to the franchise -- for comment, and will update as and when we know more.

 

http://za.ign.com/alice-madness-returns/93521/news/american-mcgee-discusses-fan-petition-to-bring-bac