American McGee turning to free-to-play after Alice

American McGee is expected to release Alice: Madness Returns for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on June 14, the first game from the veteran developer on current-generation consoles. However, in an interview with Joystiq, McGee has signaled that the game doesn't signify a greater push into big-budget development for his Shanghai-based Spicy Horse studio.

"We don't see that the future for us is in triple-A console games," McGee told Joystiq. "We actually are trying to make games that are online, free-to-play, 3D advanced casual games, so as we finish this, we're going to transition the company back to where we were intending to be when we finished Grimm."

According to McGee, Spicy Horse intended to continue developing episodic content in the vein of Grimm, which received 23 shorts that were distributed through GameTap, before being offered the chance to resurrect the Alice franchise by Electronic Arts.

"We restructured for two years; we built the game; we did a great job; we're gonna ship it on time, on schedule; we never had a crunch, and it's been really awesome," he said. "But now, it's back to what our belief is in terms of where things are going, so it's going to be all about free-to-play, 3D games for Asia."

An explicitly twisted retelling of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice: Madness Returns sees a grown-up version of the titular heroine grappling with insanity. Her journeys take her back to Wonderland, where players will find combat, platforming, and puzzle challenges.

For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Alice: Madness Returns.