Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is barely alive on Steam six weeks after launch

Six weeks after Arc System Works and Sony launched Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, the PC version is in freefall. The game peaked at nearly 25,000 concurrent players on Steam at launch and has since cratered to under 1,000 — this past weekend it dipped to just 994 players, well into three-figure territory.

On paper, the critical reception was strong: an 85 on Metacritic and 94 percent on OpenCritic, both driven largely by the PS5 version where the game is a console exclusive. Steam tells a different story. Performance issues at launch dragged the PC rating down to 44 percent positive, and it has only crept up to 49 percent since. Sales figures from Alinea Analytics estimate roughly 740,000 copies sold across all platforms — a number that sounds decent until you put it next to Guilty Gear Strive, Arc System Works' previous fighting game. Strive crossed 500,000 copies in just over a month after launch, also starting as a PlayStation and PC exclusive. Marvel Tōkon is barely ahead of that pace, and Strive — now five years old — still pulls a 24-hour Steam peak of 1,784 players, comfortably beating a brand-new Marvel title.

The performance problems are only part of the story. Marvel Tōkon launched region-locked on Steam, blocking access in a significant number of countries and generating immediate backlash. Sony's always-online DRM, which requires a PlayStation Network account to access online features, drew heavy criticism during the open beta and continued to frustrate PC players at launch. That combination — technical issues, account requirements, and regional restrictions — hit a game that was already asking PC players to trust Sony's PC publishing track record, which has been inconsistent at best. Marvel as a brand carries enormous recognition, but recognition alone doesn't convert to retention when the product experience is this rough.

Whether Arc System Works and Sony can turn things around with patches and fixes remains to be seen. The low player count makes ranked matchmaking difficult, which creates a feedback loop that drives even committed players away. Without a significant technical overhaul or a major promotional push, Marvel Tōkon's PC presence looks increasingly fragile.