Seth Killian Reveals New Home at Sony

Just because Seth Killian has left Capcom doesn’t mean he’s leaving behind fighting games forever, as the newly announced Sony Santa Monica employee has already been assigned to work on and promote PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Killian revealed his new home on the PlayStation Blog. His new title is lead game designer at Sony Santa Monica, and his office is right around the corner from the teams working on God of War: Ascension and The Unfinished Swan.

If you've talked to Killian anytime recently, he's constantly singing the praises of independent game developers, so it's not shocking he's stoked to be working with a studio like Giant Sparrow.

"There are other amazing studios in the world, but nowhere else that I know where you can find that kind of diversity combined with such a deep commitment to greatness,” he wrote in his introduction to Sony fans.

It’s unclear how much of an impact Killian could have on the design of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale this late in development. That being said, having an EVO finalist and someone who worked closely with the Capcom teams as Superbot Entertainment tweaks and balances its take on Super Smash Bros. is A Very Good Thing.

Interesting. Maybe this will make Sony's fighting game endeavor more appealing to the fighting game community.

Oh man. This could be promising!

Well color me interested

It's a Very Good Thing indeed. I'm actually excited for this game now, though I don't have a PS3.

I wish Sony Smash Bros wasn't just Build Meter: The Game. Hope Seth can mix it up and make it decent.

This is pretty interesting. Huge fan of Seth so here's hoping this leads to him just flat out designing a fighter from the ground up.

Very, very good news for the long term view of this game and franchise. It would be awesome for them to be at EVO next year.

I'm so proud.

Playstation All-Stars is going to be soooooo good.

S-Kill <3

So unlike Smash, All-Stars will be a fighting game? 
I kid, kinda.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?

This is huge news for Sony. Along with the Gaikai move, they're making all the right choices.

All-Stars still has an uphill battle in my opinion... But just because it doesn't look fun in one press conference, doesn't mean that it isn't fun to play. Regardless, good decision for Sony.

Wow. This announced couldn't be more uninteresting and a total deflation to his previous announcement.

This game may make the characters a big deal. The character list doesn't excite me at all really. The mechanics for this game excite me. S-Kill is cool, so I am down. Would be really cool if Capcom let Sony use Seth the character.

typo at 2 'oclock

@mnzy said:

So unlike Smash, All-Stars will be a fighting game? I kid, kinda.

Smash Melee was actually a very well-balanced and feature rich fighting game. I've spent a lot of time pouring over the tier lists and guides at Shoryuken.com in amazement at how many complex fighting systems were buried in there for the hardcore to discover.

Brawl though, now there's a shit 'fighting' game.

• Killian will be showcasing All-Stars at EVO 2012 this weekend.
• Competitive fighting game players (including other EVO finalists) have already been working on All-Stars from the ground up.

HOLY FUCK WHAT

I've heard of Seth Killian plenty, and he sounds like a pretty cool guy, but I don't know how I feel about a community manager becoming a freakin' game designer. Sure, he has his own experience, especially with fighting games, and he has ideas of his own, but I'm dubious of his skills to actually make the games. However, I'll definitely be looking out for his products in the future - maybe he's been a hidden designer genius all this time.

@Kill said:

@mnzy said:

So unlike Smash, All-Stars will be a fighting game? I kid, kinda.

Smash Melee was actually a very well-balanced and feature rich fighting game. I've spent a lot of time pouring over the tier lists and guides at Shoryuken.com in amazement at how many complex fighting systems were buried in there for the hardcore to discover.

Brawl though, now there's a shit 'fighting' game.

Brawl is still a whole lot of fun, I don't think that many people are really looking for the fighting depth that SSB doesn't necessarily need to have.

Good move, can't wait to see what happens with him.

Thank you Scoops,

I always wondered where Sony Santa Monica was located.. Thats about 1/2 a block from my office..on Pennsylvania Ave and Stewart St.

I should walk over and say hello from the giantbomb.com community.. LoL ...

Sony dropping the bombs this week. FFVII Vita remake next. 

Upgrade for S.Kill as far as I'm concerned!

wut.

A lead designer should at least have a veto over bad decisions where a community manager would've been forced to justify them.

Nope, still not interested in Playstation All-Stars.

Congratulations to Seth, he'll be sorely missed on Street Fighter.

I will follow him

Follow him wherever he may go

And near him, I always will be

For nothing can keep me away

He is my destiny

Interesting, wonder if he will be as prominent at Sony as he was at Capcom.

Looks like a pretty shitty game from what i've seen hopefully he can help turn it around.

Does this guy have a brother named George?

Man, Sony is hiring some cool dudes. They should just start a fighting game starring current and ex-employees of Sony. I'd be more interested in a Bettenhousen vs Boyles showdown than Ratchet vs Kratos.

@Kill: I've always turned my nose up at people who treat Super Smash Bros as anything other than what it is: a crazy fun party game with Nintendo characters. I began hating SSBM because every time my friends came over to play it, it would inevitably be a Fox/Fox/Falco/CaptainFalcon fight on Final Destination.

Link is a low-tier fighter? Who the fuck cares, I like playing as him anyway.

The Warren Spector school of career management.

We got Ed Ma, Clockw0rk, and now SETH Fucking KILLIAN all working on the same game now. Mind blown...

FOUR OLD FIGHTING GAME DUDES AT SONY NOW! Maj, clockw0rk, Ed Ma, and S-Kill. :)

@mrpandaman said:

@Kill said:

@mnzy said:

So unlike Smash, All-Stars will be a fighting game? I kid, kinda.

Smash Melee was actually a very well-balanced and feature rich fighting game. I've spent a lot of time pouring over the tier lists and guides at Shoryuken.com in amazement at how many complex fighting systems were buried in there for the hardcore to discover.

Brawl though, now there's a shit fighting game.

Brawl is still a whole lot of fun, I don't think that many people are really looking for the fighting depth that SSB doesn't necessarily need to have.

Yeah exactly, I really don't care if people turn off all of the items and play one like 2-3 stages and then choose like five characters and stuff. Like I don't know how to L-cancel or wavedash, unlike in a traditional, non-platformer influenced fighting game, the deeper stuff doesnt really make it anymore fun for me.

nintendo understands gameplay, you can't have people beating each other then use a "special" as the only way to score a point. Horrible idea. When people get hit in the Sony Smash Bros game, they also flip in the air almost exactly the same as SSB. This is a blantant copy with technical changes so its not a carbon copy, but the changes are so bad it makes the game drastically worse.

It's my hope that Seth is a boss in yet another fighting game.In this case,an actual FMV Seth Killian throwing tornado punches and headbutts.

Nice...good for him....hope it leads to good things for us all =)

After the E3 presentation for All-Stars, this news is the only reason I think that game has a chance of being worth anyone's time. If Killian's a lead...he should be able to turn things around, I would think.

@jasondesante said:

nintendo understands gameplay, you can't have people beating each other then use a "special" as the only way to score a point.

That's rich. Have you totally been ignoring peoples' many complaints with Brawl compared to Melee?

If anyone can turn a fighting game into something relevent for the actual FGC, it's Killian. Good luck to the dude, he always seems like a nice, hyper-enthusiastic guy.

Those who had "Quizno's Franchise Owner" in their "Seth Killion Future Employment" pool, please subtract 50 points.

Man... sure, it's a "fighting game", but it seems to be the kind that guys like Killian usually would laugh at.

@CH3BURASHKA said:

HOLY FUCK WHAT

I've heard of Seth Killian plenty, and he sounds like a pretty cool guy, but I don't know how I feel about a community manager becoming a freakin' game designer. Sure, he has his own experience, especially with fighting games, and he has ideas of his own, but I'm dubious of his skills to actually make the games. However, I'll definitely be looking out for his products in the future - maybe he's been a hidden designer genius all this time.

David Ellis went from game journo to designer and Halo 4 looks pretty solid so far.

@CH3BURASHKA: Seth wasn't a normal "community manager". Although he did perform a lot of that work due to his rapport with the fighting game community, his title at Capcom was actually "special consultant" if I recall correctly. He had a voice in the design and balance work on a number of fighting games, and given his background as a competitive player he's hardly just a talking head if that's your concern.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@jasondesante said:

nintendo understands gameplay, you can't have people beating each other then use a "special" as the only way to score a point.

That's rich. Have you totally been ignoring peoples' many complaints with Brawl compared to Melee?

Tripping is the bane of my existence.