SimCity’s Creative Director ‘Dismayed’ at Game’s Launch

Ocean Quigley, the creative director of SimCity who left Maxis this week to launch a career as an indie dev, has told Polygon he was "dismayed" by the game's launch.

When SimCity was released many players were unable to access the game as EA's servers were not able to match player demand for the online-only game.

"I was dismayed at the blundered launch of something that I had poured so much love and attention into, which made the leaving easier but it would have probably happened anyway," he commented. "Honestly, I think I would have left regardless of whether EA's launch of SimCity was smooth or rough. It was basically my third SimCity. I did SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4 and this new SimCity."

Quigley, along with two other former Maxis developers, are creating an iPad game which seeks to recreate the formation of the Earth and he says the concept is "too weird and science nerdy for EA."

Quigley explained that "EA's strengths are executing things with hundreds of people, to well-understood platforms. The stuff that I want to do now is to explore some new simulation themes and some new mechanics and do some stuff that EA is not well set up to do," he added. "So, not knocking EA, they do what they do, but it was time for me and the other developers Andrew Willmott and Dan Moskowitz to go off and try some new stuff."

Despite EA's woes. which saw the company give a free Origin game to those affected by SimCity's server issues, the title has sold 1.6 million copies and will be released on Mac in August. 

Earlier this month, an EA survey seemed to suggest that they're considering removing the online requirement for the game.