Alice Developer Spicy Horse Is Not Shutting Down, McGee Says
"In fact, will be moving away from free-to-play efforts in the future."
American McGee, the founder of Alice developer Spicy Horse, has spoken up to confirm that the Shanghai-based studio is not shutting down, as has been speculated recently.
Someone asked McGee on Facebook if Spicy Horse was closing its doors, to which he responded, "No." He confirmed a round of layoffs took place recently, but said the studio will continue to operate--and change.
"We reduced staff earlier this week, but the studio remains and will continue to support existing and recently launched titles," McGee said. "We'll be pivoting away from F2P mobile games. More news on next titles coming soon."
Spicy Horse is perhaps best known for Alice: Madness Returns (2011), which was published by gaming giant Electronic Arts. McGee also worked on the 2008 original American's McGee's Alice at Rogue Entertainment.
In 2013, McGee asked Alice fans if they would be interested supporting a Kickstarter for a third game in the series if he could obtain the rights from EA. This never materialized.
Also in 2013, McGee bemoaned EA's marketing of Alice: Madness Returns. On Reddit, he claimed EA intentionally created trailers for the game that would "trick" gamers into thinking the game was a hardcore horror title.
Spicy Horse is now working on free-to-play mobile/social games like Akaneiro and The Gate. We'll have more details on the company's future direction as they're announced.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
Join the conversation