Spicy Horse Games chief American McGee has decided to end his crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign for OZombie.
Although the game project had more than 2,600 backers, it was falling far short of its target, having raised $141,513 of its goal of $950,000 with 21 days to go. In an update entitled “End of the Rainbow,” McGee mournfully declared that the “Oz campaign has to end.” [See our interview with McGee.]
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":779616,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"C"}']He wrote, “”First, we’re facing a challenge with the Alice film rights,” he said, referring to a plan to adapt the American McGee’s Alice game to film. “Since working to remove it from the Oz campaign, we’ve been unable to launch it as a separate campaign here on Kickstarter; the submission has been rejected multiple times, and our appeals have failed —- multiple campaigns are not allowed. To launch a campaign for the Alice film rights means we must first shut down the Oz campaign.”
McGee has now started a campaign to raise money for Alice: Otherlands, the animated short film based on Alice.
He also said that the campaign was falling far short, with current contributions putting it on track to hit just 30 percent of its goal by Aug. 5.
“For Oz, we can always launch another campaign in the future. On the other hand, the Alice film rights are only within reach during a rapidly closing window of opportunity. We’ll sacrifice Oz today in order to have a real chance with Alice.”
The Kickstarter campaign hit trouble as fans were confused by the title, which made them think it was a zombie shooter game. McGee also didn’t include a gameplay video in the campaign — something that many successful campaigns do.
McGee wanted to create an action-adventure title that involved Dorothy’s great-great-grandaughter returning to Oz and going to war against the Scarecrow, who is trying to brainwash everyone.