NBA Jam Creator Turmell Leaves EA For Zynga

NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell has left his post at EA Sports as senior creative director in order to join social game company (and now rival to EA's PopCap) Zynga.

Kotaku reports that EA has confirmed Turmell's departure, and its just the latest in a string of senior EA employees to join Zynga – including former EA COO John Schappert and EA Tiburon (NCAA and Madden NFL Football) co-founder Steve Chiang.

This year EA Sports, and EA Tiburon in particular, has been hit by an exodus of staff including Madden creative director Ian Cummings and Madden producer Phil Frazier.

As for Turmell, it'll be interesting to see how his departure not only affects what happens with NBA Jam in the future, but what input he had in the NFL Blitz title that is rumored to be in development. Turmell's role as EA Sports senior creative director at EA Tiburon meant he influenced other projects within the label – including NCAA and Madden – and we'll have to pay attention to what pay attention to see what, if anything, this series of departures does to EA Tiburon's games.