It’s been over six months since we first saw Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.
At the time of its unveiling, the hype was very big. It was Arc System Works doing a Marvel fighting game with heavy anime-esque aesthetics and the promise of a 4-on-4 fighting game, something we hadn’t quite seen before in this fashion. Also, given Marvel’s close ties to the fighting game community historically, it was a very welcome surprise. But half a year later, the perception has shifted quite a bit for many fighting gamers.
Even at its reveal, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls was set for a 2026 release, leaving fans excited for its eventual release. Even if it might be anywhere from a year to a year and a half away, that meant there’d be a long hype cycle going on until its release.
That was the theory, anyway, but now we’re almost seven months out from its reveal and we’ve… gotten essentially nothing new since we originally saw the game.
There’ve been videos detailing the mechanics and two open betas which let people try out the game for themselves, as well as looks at stages that weren’t in the initial trailer, the Savage Land and the X-Mansion.
But for characters, arguably the main selling point of a fighting game, especially one based on a huge intellectual property like Marvel Comics, has remained entirely static since the first trailer.
Given the selling point of being a 4-on-4 fighting game, it was pretty clear that the first trailer needed to have eight different characters showcased and it delivered on this promise.
Iconic Marvel mainstays like Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Storm and Dr. Doom squared up against Star-Lord who has come into his own since the Guardians of the Galaxy movies expanded the character’s popularity and relative newcomers Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel and the Robbie Reyes iteration of Ghost Rider.
Instantly, fans got into speculation on the roster and I even posted a few pieces myself focusing on iconic Marvel quartets, important X-Men characters and what Marvel Rivals’ recent character choices may mean for Tokon.
However, we’re still sitting with the exact same roster as we were when the game was showed off in early June. What does this actually mean for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls? Well, it could mean that the marketing push simply hasn’t started yet — in which case I’d argue they showed it too early. Why not wait until The Game Awards to show it off in that case?
What it could also mean is that despite expectations set high due to its 4v4 nature, the roster may actually end up much smaller than people expect.
One factor that supports this is the fact that Marvel Tokon’s developers have said that the game is intended to be enjoyed with just one character if the player wishes to, so the whole 4v4 aspect may be more of a gimmick than the actual game focus.
If we are to look at it more as a single-fighter game that happens to incorporate assists and switches as more of an extra mechanic than the actual focus of the game, then the roster size may well be more in line with what such fighting games have had.
The same developer’s main fighting game Guilty Gear Strive, for example, launched with only 15 fighters, a figure if applied to Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls would mean that we’ve already seen more than half the roster.
We still don’t know when in 2026 Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is set to be released, but it seems clear that it will be after Evo 2026 which is happening at the end of June of 2026.
It’s possible that there’s a lot more for developers to show and that they simply haven’t ramped up their marketing yet, but if that is the case it does feel like a big mistake to show off the game so early.
Comparatively, Invincible Vs which was announced at the same event showed off six characters in their initial trailer and now have twelve unveiled fighters, with a steady drip of trailers and new reveals.
While Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls will most likely fare better than Invincible Vs since it’s based on a much bigger property, has a much bigger developer and publisher behind it and clearly has a higher budget, it’s a bit shocking to see their marketing so far being totally undone by the underdog.
Whatever the case, the hype for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has slowly turned into a general sense of indifference for many of us. Hopefully Sony and Arc System Works can right the ship in time for the game’s release date in 2026.