"I'm not really sure what my title is," admitted Seth Killian. His eyes formed a warm, proud, and confident smile. Eight PlayStation 3s, each loaded with a Hakan-ready version of Super Street Fighter IV, guarded two ends of a bar in downtown San Francisco. The first conference-filled day of the Game Developers Conference ended just a few hours prior, and it showed on the faces of developers and journalists. Except Seth's.
"I do...a lot of things," he further explained, careful not to portray uncharacteristic cockiness. The former Street Fighter pro and co-founder (along with three others) of the world's biggest fighting game tournament performs his job with assured nonchalance. He knows the community, and he knows the titles, and won't inundate fans and press with bullshit taglines and marketing jargon like so many others. He's an asset to Capcom, and is continually writing the book for the increasingly popular industry position of community manager.
As part of yet another interview for Red Flag Media, Seth answered a few Super Street Fighter IV-related questions via email. If I remembered additional details of our conversation when we spoke in San Francisco I'd type them here, but unfortunately the immediate thought of controlling Zangief and Hakan destroyed my short and long-term memory. I only remember questions regarding his former position as community manager due to my strong desire for something similar. My apologies.
History's taught us we'll see another version of Street Fighter IV somewhere down the line. I adore the series, and will probably buy each and every version on their respective release nights/mornings, but I'm afraid if Capcom chooses this distribution route they'll unintentionally segment the market - potentially driving fighting games into a niche audience once again. Am I being too paranoid?
That could be an issue although a lot of games release more often than SF and keep their audience (or grow it). I personally felt it was the increasing complexity of SF games that limited the audience. More than the release schedules, SF games got quite a bit harder with every new installment. By the time we had released a bunch of games, there were only a few people left who were able to master all the tricks necessary to be able to play them. We’re actively working on that now, to try and create all the depth of previous SF games without adding unnecessary complexity so new players can still pick up the new games.
Has there been any internal discussion regarding developing Street Fighter as a fighting game platform similar to what Riot's doing with League of Legends?
It’s an interesting idea, but no thoughts along those lines at the moment.
When balancing the game, is it a conscious decision to leave a character with extraordinarily difficult matchups due to him or her already having one or two extraordinarily easy ones? For example, does the Seth v. Zangief match exist in SFIV because Abel v. Zangief is there?
That’s probably the worst match in all of SFIV. It certainly wasn’t the plan to try and screw Zangief (he’s actually much stronger overall in SFIV than in most of the games where he makes an appearance), but it’s a natural product of their particular character strengths—even before Seth, Zangief vs Dhalsim has been a notorious mismatch for years based just on their attributes. Seth vs Zangief is a similar issue: they’re at opposite ends of the design spectrum—the slowest, hardest-hitting, most “single-minded” character, versus the one with the most options and mobility, but who can’t take a hit. Having distinct, fun character types means some of them will be naturally advantaged/disadvantaged versus others, which is what makes SF unique and interesting. So while there’s no problem with that, we have been working to and avoid severe disadvantages like that in Super SFIV.
As a (former?) community manager, what advice would you give to job-seekers looking to occupy a similar position?
My own path is probably too weird to serve as a model, but you should focus on what you love while you continue your education. You need to combine fan-dom with education and critical thinking to be effective inside a larger company, but you’re nowhere if you can’t share and understand the same passions as your community.
Predict the future: Will we "pad warriors" ever take home an EVO title in Street Fighter?
I’d say the stick players still have the edge, but based on some previous strong top-8 contenders and a new wave of excellent “pad warriors” I think we’re going to see it someday.
Also, what does the future hold for competitive gaming, and how will both you and Street Fighter be involved?
I can’t predict the future but I feel really energized by all the Street Fighter action I see around over the world. When I was starting to play competitively there was—maybe—one decent-sized tournament a year. Today there are literally thousands of great tournaments all around the world, with great local events nearby every weekend. A lot of them are also streaming out all the action online, so even if you can’t go, you can still watch and learn. Support your local scene and push each other forward—I’ll do my best on the Capcom side to keep great fighters coming and to throw the best SF parties of all time.
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:51AM 
