SimCity leads depart EA to found independent studio

Ocean Quigley, creative director on Electronic Arts's 2013 SimCity, has announced via Twitter that he will be leaving EA to found his own independent studio alongside fellow SimCity developers, lead architect Andrew Willmott and lead gameplay engineer Dan Moskowitz. The new studio, Jellygrade, will be focused on creating simulation games, in the spirit of the trio's previous work at EA. "We love simulations," Quigley continued over Twitter, following the announcement. "After 17 years [on SimCity] it was time for something new." Jellygrade's first game is pitched as "a simulation about the dawn of life on earth; about lava, water, rock and the emergence of the first primordial creatures," Quigley explains. The title is being designed for iPad with plans to bring it to other platforms later on. Gamasutra has reached out to Quigley and the Jellygrade team and we expect to have more for you about this new venture soon. In the meantime, have a look at a past Q&A with Ocean Quigley concerning his work on EA's 2013 SimCity.