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[SmartWaffles]

Update from American McGee himself:

Just wanted to let everyone know Spicy Horse did reduce staff earlier this week, but a core team will remain in the studio and we'll be announcing new projects soon. The remaining team will continue to support our existing and recently launched mobile F2P titles. As has been mentioned in this thread, the F2P space has become quite brutal in recent years, and after 5 years and 7 titles, I feel it's time we pivot to something new.

Also, just wanted to say I appreciate the sentiment and kind words regarding my sister. Still no news, but we maintain hope the police and PI can move things forward.

I've just posted this briefly on Twitter if you need confirmation:
https://twitter.com/americanmcgee/status/714950254400049153

Original post below:

On the Chinese social media platform weibo, user identified as "Concept Art Designer on Alice: Madness Returns" posted:

"Spicy Horse to close this week, thanks for the three years."

The Shanghai based independent studio was founded by American McGee in 2007 and is/was the largest independent Western developer in China.

Their most notable game was Alice: Madness Returns, released in 2011, with over 440k copies sold on Steam alone.

 

[HvySky]

Hope they find work. Despite its flaws, Madness Returns was an awesome game.

 

[onken]

That sucks - what else did they do apart from Alice in the last few years?

 

[Death Metalist]

That's a shame, I quite enjoyed Alice: Madness Returns. I don't think many people gave it a chance though.

 

[SmartWaffles]

That sucks - what else did they do apart from Alice in the last few years?

Nothing noteworthy, their last recorded work is Akaneiro: Demon Hunters to abysmal reviews and their website currently is a host to free to play web games.

 

[Cardon]

Damn shame. They always provided some wonderful looking games that had some nice variety to them. Wonder what McGee will do next.

 

[GavinUK86]

American was hoping to get a third Alice game, which would be the end of the trilogy, off the ground but I guess it didn't pan out. That's a shame.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Sad news, but I'm kind of amazed they were able to keep ticking over for this long to be honest. Madness Returns was, what, five years ago now?

 

[toythatkills]

That's a shame, I quite enjoyed Alice: Madness Returns. I don't think many people gave it a chance though.

Alice could have done with being half as long, but then that's not a problem exclusive to Alice.

 

[bjork]

I'm in the Madness Returns fan camp. That's a really cool game. Kinda wish we'd gotten a director's cut or something that added the cut content, it looked neat.

 

[Blackage]

American was hoping to get a third Alice game, which would be the end of the trilogy, off the ground but I guess it didn't pan out. That's a shame.

Kickstarter go?

 

[axisofweevils]

Sad. A:MR was incredibly stylish and disturbing in places.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

That sucks - what else did they do apart from Alice in the last few years?

I vaguely remember a successfuly kick-started red riding hood game from then, but it never really took off.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Madness Returns was interesting.
Flawed, but I love that it tried, felt different enough.
A bit of a mid tier game just after the bottom had really finally fallen off that section of the market.

 

[tuxfool]

I vaguely remember a successfuly kick-started red riding hood game from then, but it never really took off.

Are you sure you're not confusing this with Woolfe?

 

[Acquiescence]

That really burns my ass. Madness Returns deserved so much more than it got. A really twisted adventure full of character and warped imagery - it was way better than the majority of critics let on.

Bummer.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Are you sure you're not confusing this with Woolfe?

Wikipedia said it was called akaneiro: demon hunters, so I don't think so?

 

[Com_Raven]

If true, it would be a) very unsurprising and b) very sad. I loved both Alice games and their amazing art, but everything they have done since on Kickstarter etc didn't seem to have worked out well.

Hopefully everyone affected lands on their feet, they had some very talented artists.

 

[Mivey]

Wasn't the third entry for Alice supposed to be a movie? I personally thought the original game really didn't need a sequel, and nothing proved that further than Madness Returns.

 

[SevenTales]

That's sad. Madness Returns was a great quirky title. I loved the presentation and style, and the story.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Wasn't the third entry for Alice supposed to be a movie? I personally thought the original game really didn't need a sequel, and nothing proved that further than Madness Returns.

Alice: otherlands is a thing, yes. No idea if the videos are any good though.

 

[Lain]

I'm surprised they lasted this long after Akaneiro but it still sucks, Alice: Madness Returns was a nice game (and damn the artbook was awesome).

 

[JohngPR]

That's a shame, I really liked Madness Returns.

Hopefully all involved find gainful employment.

 

[tuxfool]

Wikipedia said it was called akaneiro: demon hunters, so I don't think so?

Ah. I didn't know this had anything to do with Red Riding Hood.

I remember looking at Woolfe and thinking it was a very American McGee interpretation of the tale, though nowhere near as creative.

 

[Manu]

Bummer, Madness Returns is one of my favorite 6/10 games ever.

 

[Varg]

Madness returns was very enjoyable and I'm hoping for BC on the Xbox one soon . Hope everyone lands on their feet.

 

[RK128]

That is a shame .

Madness Returns had such a strong foundation for a future title, with a great combat system, fluid controls and some great visual work. The levels were too big and it got stale over time but I enjoyed my time with Madness Returns.

Hope Spicy Horse developers find future work, as they are a talented studio.

 

[lazygecko]

Wasn't American McGee's sister kidnapped or something? What happened there?

 

[Certinty]

Sucks big time, Madness Returns was an amazing game, still honestly can't believe how good it was.

 

[RK128]

Wasn't American McGee's sister kidnapped or something? What happened there?

WHAT O_O!

Hope she is found soon .

 

[toythatkills]

WHAT O_O!

How the heck did that happen?

How does anyone get kidnapped?

 

[RK128]

How does anyone get kidnapped?

I know, dumb question . Still, that is shocking honestly.

Found the link to the full story: http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3381198/american-mcgees-sister-is-missing-and-we-can-help/

They got the funding for an investigator, so hopefully they find her soon.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

I am sad to hear this.

Alice:MR was amazing and one of my all time favorite games.

 

[BiggNife]

It's a shame, certainly, but their transition from retail games to F2P stuff just wasn't a smart move in the long run. They couldn't stand out in such a crowded market.

Akaneiro had a great visual style but sadly the gameplay was generic and the F2P stuff was icky.

 

[MUnited83]

A bummer, i freaking love Alice: Madness Returns. Kinda expected though, all their F2P titles bombed very hard.

 

[Saoshyant]

American McGee's sister, named Mercy Convington (their parents are really bad at naming kids) disappeared December last year. Police didn't find any clues and she has not turned up over three months later. Can you imagine how he and their family feel? Like, dang. This also came right after some idiots started doing Internet death threats at McGee, so it makes a dire situation even worse.

Spicy Horse... they have been in bad shape since EA didn't go along with the third Alice game proposal. There were plans for a movie (no idea what came of it) and then F2P gaming started becoming big and they went all in with Akaneiro, a diablo-clone mixing Japan and Red Riding Hood that you could play on your browser (a Steam client came out later on). Art wise it looked pretty interesting and the concept seemed a winner at a glance, but the game itself never became a sensation and released in a pretty barren state even after a successful Kickstarter. I actually thought they had already closed down quietly, but I guess they just kept trying to carry on for a while more waiting for better times that didn't come.

It's a shame, certainly, but their transition from retail games to F2P stuff just wasn't a smart move in the long run. They couldn't stand out in such a crowded market.

The market wasn't even that crowded when the project started. The thing is, they are a tiny studio and had no experience doing anything as complex as a Diablo game nor had figured out good monetization schemes for F2P titles. The result was thus a mess and even what's there took years to take shape.

 

[teokrazia]

I'm very sad.
I've been there in 2010, for an Alice preview, and I had a really great time with American and the other Spicy fellas.

 

[Fady K]

Unsurprising but disappointing nevertheless. Madness returns was a great game and certainly deserved better. It's a shame their output since was far from noteworthy.

The sadder news here is the kidnapping of McGee's sis. Damn,had no idea. I hope she is found alive and well soon.

Edit: damn, she's been missing for nearly half a year :/

 

[Vitor711]

Spicy Horse... they have been in bad shape since EA didn't go along with the third Alice game proposal. There were plans for a movie (no idea what came of it) and then F2P gaming started becoming big and they went all in with Akaneiro, a diablo-clone mixing Japan and Red Riding Hood that you could play on your browser (a Steam client came out later on). Art wise it looked pretty interesting, but the game itself never became a sensation and released in a pretty barren state even after a successful Kickstarter. I actually thought they had already closed down quietly, but I guess they just kept trying to carry on for a while more waiting for better times that didn't come.

Well, I'm assuming the awful Tim Burton Alice movies are what happened to that film deal. Too similar to justify funding another project on the same themes.

Shame about the dev since Alice was a great game marred by so much bloat. If they'd cut that 20 hours into 10, it would have been something special. As is, the mechanics didn't hold up enough for such a long playtime and it felt like a complete drag by the end.

It looked stunning in spots though and I always wanted to like it more than I did.

 

[thesaucetastic]

Hopefully they don't delist Alice on Steam, I wanted to play that.

It's published by EA. It's not going anywhere.

Oh that's a relief then. Still sucks about the dev going under though.

I know, dumb question . Still, that is shocking honestly.

Found the link to the full story: http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3381198/american-mcgees-sister-is-missing-and-we-can-help/

They got the funding for an investigator, so hopefully they find her soon.

Shit, this is really sad. I hope they find her.

 

[MUnited83]

Hopefully they don't delist Alice on Steam, I wanted to play that.

It's published by EA. It's not going anywhere.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Always a shame when a dev goes under, but this isn't all that surprising given the games they've produced.

 

[Lijik]

I thought Grimm was alright for what it was and loved Madness Returns. Its a shame nothing worked out for them post-Alice

 

[Ullus]

Shame, they always had top notch art, just not the gameplay to back it up.

 

[mcz117chief]

Not surprised, at least they released the movies before going down under. It was my first kickstarter I think

 

[Carlius]

the hate alice got was unfair...it was a great game just like the first game years ago.

 

[runningjoke]

That sucks - what else did they do apart from Alice in the last few years?

They did some outsourcing work for other developers IIRC

 

[SlaughterX]

Funny I just started playing Madness Returns a couple of days ago. Still looks pretty good in 4k.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Sad news. I love the Alice games, especially Madness Returns, so much I have Alice and the Cheshire Cat tattooed on my arms. I hope the affected will be able to land new jobs quickly, and that American will one day get to make that third Alice game.

 

[firehawk12]

They kept trying early access/kickstarter and it just never worked out for them.