This month’s State of Play presentation was a certified banger for PlayStation, with a ton of exciting games coming to the PlayStation 5 in the next year. Final Fantasy Tactics remaster? Check. The first look at IO Interactive’s James Bond origin story? Got it. But perhaps the biggest announcement was Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a new 4v4 fighting game starring Marvel superheroes by Arc System Works, the developer behind some incredible anime fighters like Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, the Persona 4 Arena games, and Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Fighting Souls closed out the showcase, and the game looks incredible. Arc System Works is consistently putting out some of the best fighting games on the market, and seeing the game really lean into the studio’s signature anime fighter stylings instead of feeling sanitized for the western property is really encouraging. The initial reaction to the trailer was a lot of unbridled hype, but a Sony-published Marvel fighting game also raises a lot of questions.
To start off with the good, the Marvel fandom is already embracing the game. There’s excitement around the prospect of 4v4 fights as well as the new anime-inspired designs for classic heroes like Iron Man and Captain America, and folks are already making fun edits of what little we’ve seen of the game. Even after only seeing a trailer and a behind-the-scenes interview, fans already like what they see. They’re also speculating about what other Marvel heroes might show up in the roster and planning possible character combos, so it’s clearly made a strong first impression that has fighting game fans’ minds racing as they consider Fighting Souls’ potential. There’s also a fair number of folks joking that this game might spell trouble for the upcoming League of Legends fighting game 2XKO, which also uses a similar tag-team battle format. The girls are fighting.
Wrapped up in all this excitement is a big question, however. Is Fighting Souls the future of Marvel fighting games? Does this mean that hopes of a new Marvel vs. Capcom are out the window? It’s been eight years since the last installment in Capcom’s crossover fighter. 2017’s Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite is largely considered a disappointment by fans and underperformed financially, so Capcom stopped supporting it fairly quickly. After nearly a decade, fans have started wondering if the series will ever make a comeback. Now, with Arc System Works creating a Marvel-centric fighting game that uses similar tag-team mechanics to those in Marvel vs. Capcom, the prospect of a new game in which Ryu and Cyclops face off seems like a pipe dream. The cuck jokes write themselves.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is coming to PC and PlayStation 5 in 2026. Given Sony is publishing the game and also owns EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, Fighting Souls is pretty much guaranteed to be a staple of the show next year. This year’s tournament begins on August 1, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony and Arc System Works had more Fighting Souls announcements ready for the event. Star-Lord has already been confirmed as a playable character, so at least one of my mains is locked in. For another, give me Mr. Fantastic, Arc System Works. Let me slap people from the other side of the screen, Dhalsim style.