Electronic Arts, the developers of the SimCity games and many other titles have lost three of their team members who have gone off and formed a new game studio. Creative Director Ocean Quigley along with lead architect Andrew Willmott and lead gameplay engineer Dan Moskowitz have formed indie studio Jellygrade and will be working on their own simulation games. Quigley made the announcement on his twitter feed saying “We love simulations,” and “After 17 years [on SimCity] it was time for something new.”

Jellygrade’s first game as described by Quigley as “a simulation about the dawn of life on earth; about lava, water, rock and the emergence of the first primordial creatures.” It should come as no surprise that three SimCity developers leaving EA to form their own studio would opt to work on their own simulation games. I personally would have thought their first title would be something other than a simulation game, but that’s me. They are working on what they know and these guys know simulation games.

With EA and the issues they have been having with SimCity 2013, it’s no wonder these guys left. EA decided that SimCity 2013 players should always be connected to the EA servers to play the game. Unfortunately for EA, connection issues left many players including Gamer Horizon’s Ari without the ability to play due to server issues and patching. Fortunately for EA, and after weeks of intermittent connectivity, the issues were fixed but not before the damage was done. This fiasco left EA with serious credibility issues beyond the ones they already have.

Regardless, it’s a day to celebrate the creation of a new game studio Jellygrade and to new beginnings for Ocean Quigley, Dan Moskowitz and Andrew Willmott. All the best in your future endeavors. Jellygrade’s new title which has yet to be named is being designed for the iPad and other platforms.