Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is a big deal, and proves PlayStation is shifting its strategy

I was really pleasantly surprised at some of the games shown during June 2025’s State of Play showcase — which just happened to air on my birthday, by the way, thank you Sony. A new game from Tetsuya Mizuguchi is always appreciated, but we also get the next Suda51 joint, a new trailer for Capcom’s Pragmata, Silent Hill f gameplay, IO Interactive’s 007’s first trailer, and, somehow, more? It was genuinely a lovely surprise throughout, but the true bombshell was Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.

Right, I get it. If you’re not a fighting game fan, this entire announcement probably flew right over your head. If it’s not a linear third-person adventure with a sad dad or an open world simulation, why care, right? I know how you PlayStation fans think, and that’s why you’re unaware that this announcement just shook fighting game die-hards to their core, and that’s more important to the overall PlayStation strategy than you realise.

First, let’s get the obvious business out of the way: a new Marvel vs. Capcom game isn’t going to happen. We all had hopes that a seemingly repaired relationship between Capcom and Marvel could lead to a new MvC in the future, but Marvel Tokon crushes that idea. There simply isn’t room for two new big-budget Marvel-themed fighting games. 

This is a big deal because Marvel and Capcom have been inextricably linked in the minds of fighting game fans since the ‘90s. There has never been a true non-Capcom Marvel fighter until now, and it shows that what Capcom delivered with Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite likely damaged the relationship more than could be known publicly. 

That’s given room for Arc System Works to move in, but not without the assistance of PlayStation Studios. Yes, this is a PlayStation Studios game. PlayStation is publishing the game as a first-party title, and is seemingly acting as liaison between Arc System Works and Marvel. It’s mentioned in the extended trailer that Marvel had confidence in this relationship thanks to the success of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. Fighting game fans have faith in Arc System Works, and Marvel has faith in the project as long as Sony is paying for development to ensure a high level of quality.

This is seemingly a new pillar in PlayStation’s business. Back in 2021 the Evolution Championship Series was absorbed into the PlayStation Family, and in the recent State of Play stream, we saw a new official wireless arcade stick for PS5 and PC. I repeat: official. This is a first-party PlayStation accessory, just like the PS Portal or the DualSense Edge, but specifically for fighting games.

It makes sense if you zoom out at the legacy of PlayStation and the fighting game community. In 2012 the dominant console at fighting game events was the Xbox 360, but when 2016’s Street Fighter V was a PS4 console exclusive, everything changed over. Now that PlayStation runs Evo, the PS5 is the default console at tournaments and events. With a genuinely exciting new Marvel fighting game as a console exclusive and the ability to put it on the Evo mainstage, PlayStation has once again ensured that the PS5 basically has to be the console of choice for dedicated fighting game fans, if they’re not already on PC instead.

If you were a Sony executive witnessing a massive Sony-run gaming event like Evo, it’d be natural to ask which Sony-developed games are being played on the main stage. And it might come as a shock to find that the answer was none. But now, as long as Marvel Tokon impresses the fighting game community, nobody will complain about a Sony game taking the main stage — and Marvel Tokon has already blown people away.

Arc System Works is a natural choice for a Marvel fighter, too. Of the eight main stage games playable at Evo 2025, three of them are developed by ASW. If you want a developer to make a competition-ready fighting game that appeals to fans, the choice is obvious, especially after the celebrated releases of games like Dragon Ball FighterZ, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and Guilty Gear Strive.

I don’t often have my mouth agape when watching a gaming showcase like this, but after a series of “ooo” sounds and consistent nodding, Marvel Tokon had me feeling bewildered and speechless. Visually it’s distinctly Japanese, incredibly expressive, and gorgeously animated. Iron Man sports the same V-fins that you’ll spot on the helmets of Gundams and other mechas, Ms. Marvel is shockingly anime-cute, Storm looks like I’d let her kill me, and so on. From top to bottom, every aspect of the character design is beautiful, and the gameplay snippets we’ve seen so far look like they’re on the right track too.

This is easily the most excited I’ve personally ever been for any Marvel game, and while I’m still partially grieving the loss of Marvel vs. Capcom, this is more than a worthy successor. If this is one of Sony’s infamous “12 live-service games,” then it’s the second one to actually interest fans, following on from 2024’s breakout Helldivers 2. I’m not sure Marvel Tokon will get quite that amount of attention, but this game marks a massive shift in PlayStation’s priorities, and will serve as a long-lasting lesson for Capcom. 

It might be too early to call, but Marvel Tokon looks set to be the best fighting game of 2026, and I’ve already totally forgotten about Riot Games’ upcoming 2XKO.