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Seth Killian Leaving Capcom, Pens Goodbye Letter

No word on where Killian is headed, describes next move as "a new path."

If there was a fighting game being promoted by Capcom, Killian was somewhere nearby.
If there was a fighting game being promoted by Capcom, Killian was somewhere nearby.

If you’ve been following Capcom fighting games since Street Fighter IV was announced, you know who Seth Killian is. The enthusiastic "special advisor" has been the public face of Capcom’s premiere genre nearly as much as the Blanka-toting Yoshinori Ono.

Just a few months after the release of Street Fighter X Tekken (and coincidentally the same date the stinker that is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor has been released) Killian is moving on from Capcom.

Killian published a farewell letter on the Capcom Unity blog but did not mention where he’s going.

"I have chosen a new path which will let me embrace a new dream, but to everyone that ever believed in this dream we shared together, let me say this final thanks,” said Killian. “I will leave as I began--a Capcom fan for life, looking forward to all the great games still to come.”

The producer went on to thank various friends within Capcom who helped him along the way.

It’s worth your time to read the entire letter, but this passage directed at the fighting game community stood out:

“In no uncertain terms, you have been my reason for everything,” he said. “A game can be incredible, but it's the players and where they take it that elevate it into legend. Both as individuals and as a group, you have taught me more than I could have ever thought possible. Every hour on the road and every air mile towards my first million doesn't begin to repay the debt I feel to all of you. You are a family to me. Today, the community is strong, and growing stronger. We fight, we make mistakes, we argue, and we compete but in the end we have each other. To you, I can only say "thank you." You continue to electrify the world and show the power not just of a game, but of a living, breathing community. Strive to be your best selves, to share our magic with the next generation, and above all else, take care of each other. We are a family.”

This coming Friday, June 22, is Killian's last day at Capcom.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

112 Comments

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FLStyle

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Edited By FLStyle

Good article

@CornBREDX said:

Wow. That's kind of weird. Even though I'm not big on SF4 I watched a lot of tournaments online- which he often commentates. That's gonna be weird not seeing/hearing him as a commentator.

Not working for Capcom won't mean he stops commentating for FGC events, if anything, leaving Capcom means he'll commentate more of them.

@PulledaBrad said:

"Strive to be your best selves, to share our magic with the next generation"

Ive never seen a more insular and closed off community in video games than that of the fighting variety. Hopeful words but never gonna happen.

How far does your knowledge of the FGC actually extend? I've seen words like insular and closed off lazily thrown around in reference to the FGC many times by people who know a lot less than they think they do.

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VicRattlehead

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Edited By VicRattlehead

Pretty sad news, first gootecks quits cross counter then spooky says he's cutting back and Ono nearly dies and now Keith Sillian departs sigh there dropping like flies :'(

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RanmaRanma

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Edited By RanmaRanma

The man is legitimately one of the best FG commentators out there. I will truly miss his passion for the FGC, his expertise and his top notch commentary. I hope he remains in the scene at least to some extent.

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SubTact

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Edited By SubTact

@PulledaBrad said:

"Strive to be your best selves, to share our magic with the next generation"

Ive never seen a more insular and closed off community in video games than that of the fighting variety. Hopeful words but never gonna happen.

Let me guess you've made this brilliant inference based on message boards, comment boards, online, and stream chat? Your comment sounds like you've never gone to a local weekly/ranbat. When he says "community", he means the people that actually make an effort to play in person at weeklies/ranbats/etc and tournaments.

If I judged the Giantbomb "community" solely based on article comments, I'd peg about a third of them as being complete idiots who would rather write something negative, then admit they really don't know shit about the topic of discussion.

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Kadeemluvmusic

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Edited By Kadeemluvmusic

Don't leave me, Seth Killan. Can you make another Street Fighter game? I'll miss you. Why, Capcom, why?

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MostlyBearded

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Edited By MostlyBearded

I wish the best to Seth. He did a great job helping bring back fighting games from obscurity, and had such an infectious passion for them. Good luck to him.

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Vaancor

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Edited By Vaancor

This is a real shock for me, Sith is one of the guys in the industry who genuinely loves the product he's working on and is living the dream. Hope whatever he's going for next works out well for him.

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bennym6

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Edited By bennym6

Wow I am shocked

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Bravestar

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Edited By Bravestar

hope his new path is a good one. good luck mister s-kill.

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Thumbrunner

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Edited By Thumbrunner

Sad best front facing Capcom guy ever. With him being a face recognized he caught a lot of flak seeing that Capcom keeps pissing on all the good will they get with poor business practices I can't really blame anyone for not wanting to continue being employed by them and having to deal with all that everyday.

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PulledaBrad

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Edited By PulledaBrad
"Strive to be your best selves, to share our magic with the next generation"

Ive never seen a more insular and closed off community in video games than that of the fighting variety. Hopeful words but never gonna happen.

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geebs

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Edited By geebs

Hopefully he stays involved in the fighting game community, he's invaluable.

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Lurkero

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Edited By Lurkero

Defending Capcom's business practices over the past few years has had to put some wear on his soul. I assume that when he joined Capcom he thought it would be more of a pleasant experience.

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GaspoweR

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Edited By GaspoweR

@maitimo: have you read this? http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-11-the-rise-and-collapse-of-yoshinori-ono If you think ono's dumb you should probably think it over.

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porr

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Edited By porr

woah.

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zonikjj

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Edited By zonikjj

What a cool guy!

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Dan_CiTi

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Edited By Dan_CiTi

In-fucking-sane. Never saw this coming, he was so good for Capcom and their fighting game division. Anyways, I wish him the best of luck in whatever he does in the future.

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cornbredx

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Edited By cornbredx

Wow. That's kind of weird. Even though I'm not big on SF4 I watched a lot of tournaments online- which he often commentates. That's gonna be weird not seeing/hearing him as a commentator.

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fox01313

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Edited By fox01313

Expecting he's going to go start up & take the CEO spot for CAPCPOM.

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GreggD

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Edited By GreggD

I wonder what Brett Elston is gonna do now that Seth's leaving.

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Skogen

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Edited By Skogen

S-Kill was too good for Capcom. Say goodbye to all of your credibility Capcom.

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Ketchupp

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Edited By Ketchupp

Holy shit.

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Ett

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Edited By Ett

Get your money for a kickstarter ready.

Seth had ideas for SF5 but that's not going too happen any time soon.

Hopefully we will see a true western fighting game in the spirit of SF2 soon.

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algertman

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Edited By algertman

First Ono, now this. Capcom must really hate Street Fighter.

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Lunar_Aura

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Edited By Lunar_Aura

@BabyChooChoo said:

Seth Killian coming to Giant Bomb. Confirmed.

Well somebody has to replace B

*ducks shoe*

Anyway, good luck to the man. He always seemed so devoted to the community and made it look genuine instead of just a job.

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bluefoxxy

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Edited By bluefoxxy

I had the great chance to work along side seth at EVO and he is nothing but stellar. His passion for the SFC was/is astounding and he put his heart and soul into what he did. Sad to hear, but can't wait to see whats in his future!

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Commisar123

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Edited By Commisar123

Man that really sucks, he worked really hard on some really great games. Hopefully he will move on to doing something as awesome in his next job

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thehuntsmen5434

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Edited By thehuntsmen5434

@RockinKemosabe: Agreed.

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joshthebear

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Edited By joshthebear

Quite a bummer, but I guess you can only defend Capcom for so long.

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hughesman

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Edited By hughesman

Well best of luck to him. He was always the charismatic face to a company that caught more shit than a net around a monkey cage.

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Solh0und

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Edited By Solh0und

Now where will I go to get rare footage of a evo player getting angry? 
 
Best wishes to you, S-kill.

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mrfluke

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Edited By mrfluke

@C2C said:

With Killian leaving and the remarks Ono has made, Capcom as a company seems more like a faceless corporation with each passing day.

agreed, all the personality of capcom has left now (ben judd, adam boyes, craig K, inafune-san, ono-san is on hiatus and now seth killian)

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deactivated-5e49e9175da37

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@mnzy
@Brodehouse said:
I'll put fucking dollars to donuts there's a kickstarter at the end of this. 
What? Explain, please.
I wager my dollars against someone else's donuts that Seth Killian reappears in the not too distant future with his new project, and that he kickstarts it instead of seeking traditional publishing (see Ryan Payton, Stoic, inXile).
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Fisco

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Edited By Fisco

Looking forward to hearing about his future projects. Should be interesting, as it always is when big names leave big companies.

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Video_Game_King

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Edited By Video_Game_King

@patrickklepek said:

If there was a fighting game being promoted by Capcom, Killian was somewhere nearby.
If there was a fighting game being promoted by Capcom, Killian was somewhere nearby.

Is it just me, or is the thumbnail larger than the actual image?

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nightriff

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Edited By nightriff

@mnzy said:

@Nightriff said:

@mnzy: I'll explain it, I'm sure he will go do some indie project that won't get enough funds and therefore there will be a kickstarter to get those funds.

He's not a developer, he's community manager. He never made a game, atleast that I know of.

Yup and he will want to make the game of his dreams is what I'm assuming, I just don't want to hear about another kickstarter

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BabyChooChoo

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Edited By BabyChooChoo

Seth Killian coming to Giant Bomb. Confirmed.

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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy
@Nightriff said:

@mnzy: I'll explain it, I'm sure he will go do some indie project that won't get enough funds and therefore there will be a kickstarter to get those funds.

He's not a developer, he's community manager. He never made a game, atleast that  I know of.
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Solidsnak

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Edited By Solidsnak

@RockinKemosabe: my thoughts exactly

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C2C

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Edited By C2C

With Killian leaving and the remarks Ono has made, Capcom as a company seems more like a faceless corporation with each passing day.

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nightriff

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Edited By nightriff

@mnzy: I'll explain it, I'm sure he will go do some indie project that won't get enough funds and therefore there will be a kickstarter to get those funds.

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churrific

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Edited By churrific

That sucks. The one time I saw him at NYCC, it was so easy to see his infectious passion. He was off to the side, away from the booths, just shootin the breeze with a few random folk talking that marvel.

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korolev

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Edited By korolev

Wow. Given the language he's using, he must have really liked working at Capcom. Or else he desperately wants to preserve bridges. Either way, hope he's successful in anything he decides to do.

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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy
@Brodehouse said:
I'll put fucking dollars to donuts there's a kickstarter at the end of this. 
What? Explain, please.
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Pop

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Edited By Pop

oh no!! I'm really really really curious what he's going to do in the future. Maybe he'll make his own game like Mike Z or something idk.

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JJOR64

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Edited By JJOR64

Best of luck to him. He has done some great things for Capcom.

@MisuseOfLasers said:

S-Kill noooooooooooo. I hope he'll still be at EVO.

Same. He has done great commentary in the past and hope he does it again this EVO.

It would also be great if he started playing again.

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deactivated-5e49e9175da37

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I'll put fucking dollars to donuts there's a kickstarter at the end of this.

Frankly, the future is obvious; F2P fighting games with a rotating 'free' roster and purchasable 'universal' use and costumes. Maybe even stages.

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TheYear20XX

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Edited By TheYear20XX

S-Kill noooooooooooo. I hope he'll still be at EVO.

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wumbo3000

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Edited By wumbo3000

Keth Sillian, I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.