| Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Arc System Works[a] |
| Publisher | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Director | Kazuto Sekine |
| Producers |
|
| Designer | Kazuto Sekine |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 5 |
| Platforms | |
| Release | August 6, 2026 |
| Genre | Fighting |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls[b] is an upcomingfighting game developed byArc System Works and published bySony Interactive Entertainment. It was officially announced in June 2025, and is scheduled to release forPlayStation 5 andWindows on August 6, 2026.
Featuring characters appearing inMarvel Comics publications, the game is premised on a tag team system that entails beginning matches with a single fighter and an assist character, and gradually unlocking a full lineup of four characters by fulfilling mid-match conditions such as damage accumulation and "Wall Breaks" that transition fights across multiple arenas in a stage, culminating in 4v4 gameplay that alternates between assist-based combat with singular characters and an active tag mechanic that enables players to control other fighters in their lineup.
SIE's interest in creating a new first-party fighting game led them to approachMarvel Games following their successful collaboration on theMarvel's Spider-Man series. Sony courted Arc System Works to develop the title with Marvel's approval. Production began with the goal of incorporating a system that was approachable for newcomers to the genre, but with a depth that satisfied the game's potential for competitive play. The game's roster accommodates Arc System Works' variety of gameplay archetypes, comprising major Marvel characters and obscure selections that have not appeared in previous Marvel fighting games.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is a2.5D fighting game in which players compete against each other intag team combat using an ensemble ofMarvel Comics characters.[1] Players must knock out all opponents on the opposing team through repeated attacks which drain ahealth bar.[2] Iterating on other tag fighters and previous Marvel-based fighting games such as theMarvel vs. Capcom franchise,Fighting Souls employs a 4v4 system which allows the player to alternate between a setup of one primary character and three assist fighters who can be called in for additional offense, or an active tag system enabling the "leader" to be swapped out for other fighters during the match and individually controlled.[3] When matches begin, players will be restricted to only using their primary character and a single assist fighter, gradually enabling access to their full team as they fulfill certain mid-match conditions such as "Wall Breaks", a returning mechanic from the Arc System Works titleGuilty Gear Strive (2021), that is triggered when a combo or high-damaging move is performed in the corner of the arena.[4][5][6]
Contrasting other tag-based fighters and previous Marvel titles, teams inFighting Souls all share a single health bar, known as a Vital Gauge, that extends over the course of a round as more of a player's team is made accessible.[7] Assist mechanics are represented by an "Assemble Gauge", with each character's move being dictated by the type of attack mode they are designated by the player during character selection. Forward Assist types are relegated to using projectile attacks for disrupting other fighters as an example, while Downward Assists are more effective for anti-air interruptions. The assist characters can then be tagged in and controlled either right before, or immediately after landing an attack, which is known in-game as a "Crossover".[8] LikeGranblue Fantasy Versus andVersus Rising, the control schemes ofFighting Souls features Light, Medium and Heavy Normal Attacks, and a Unique Attack that draws on a particular ability associated with the character such asCaptain America throwing his shield, orIron Man firing a series of repulsor blasts.[9][10] A third "Skill Gauge" allows fighters to consume some meter for performing higher-damage EX attacks or a cinematicUltimate Skill when completely filled, and can be used in conjunction with the Assemble Gauge to chain multiple Ultimate Skills across a whole team together, similar to the Delayed Hyper Combo mechanic (DHC) inMarvel vs. Capcom games.[11]
Like previous Arc System Works titles such asStrive andDragon Ball FighterZ (2018),Fighting Souls features stages that encompass multiple distinct areas with visual iconography drawn from theMarvel Universe, and are cycled through mid-match when initiating Wall Breaks.[12]
There will be four members within each five teams, bringing 20 characters within the base roster, with at least four additional characters confirmed asdownloadable content (DLC).
Unbreakable X-Men
Other Confirmed Characters
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) had expressed interest in developing a first-party fighting game for itsPlayStation library, having already made efforts to support the genre in other capacities through their co-ownership ofEvolution Championship Series (EVO) and promotion of third-party titles on their consoles such asStreet Fighter 6 (2023) andTekken 8 (2024).[14][15] This prompted producer Reed Baird from SIE'sXDev team to pitch a such a project toMarvel Games.[16] SIE proposed atag team fighting game, aware that Marvel held a prior reputation as a major presence in the subgenre due to their past partnership withCapcom on theMarvel vs. Capcom series.[17][18] Marvel had similarly fostered a successful working relationship with SIE due to their collaboration on theMarvel's Spider-Man series developed byInsomniac Games, which led them to reciprocate enthusiastically towards the idea according to Marvel Games' senior Product Development Manager Michael Francisco Jr.[19]
A representative from SIE met withArc System Works producer Takeshi Yamanaka to present the concept and entice them to develop the game, a decision Marvel similarly approved due to their prior experience in tag-based fighting games such asBlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle andDragon Ball FighterZ (both 2018).[20] Despite initial hesitations regarding Arc System Works' capability of handling the property, the urging of president/CEO Minoru Kidooka convinced Yamanaka to take on the project.[21] Kidooka previously spoke duringEvo 2022 about motivating the studio towards being less passive with pursuing opportunities to collaborate with external license holders following their work onFighterZ andCross Tag Battle,[22] specifically wishing to produce projects involving franchises with broader Western appeal, and being a proponent of using third-party IP such as Marvel to expand the reach of thefighting game community.[23]
Arc System Works began production with the goal of making a fighting game that was more accessible to a wider audience, including accommodations for simplified and traditional inputs, as well as character skills that are common amongst the whole roster.[24] Game director Kazuto Sekine explained that despite internal deliberations about making a traditional 1v1 fighter or adhering to the 3v3 format of other tag-based games, they opted for a 4v4 system out of a desire to capture the intensity of multiple on-screen characters in combat, emphasizing the unique team-ups and crossing over of Marvel characters.[25] With regards to the roster, Yamanaka stated that the team developed criteria around fighter selection, wishing to include characters considered the 'faces of Marvel' while also leaving room for more obscure picks that had never appeared in prior Marvel-based fighting games.[9]
According to Baird, the development ofFighting Souls was motivated by the PlayStation Studios XDev team's mantra of "From Japan to the World", alluding to a desire of bringing the work and inspirations of Japanese developers to a global platform.[19] Yamanaka stated that while their original intention was for the aesthetics of the game to evoke the look of a Western comic book, they were encouraged by Marvel to lean further into a style distinct to their previous titles such as theGuilty Gear series, leading to an art direction more rooted in anime.[26] This was reflected in creative decisions that emphasized the immersion of Marvel characters in a Japanese pop cultural backdrop, such asIron Man's armor drawing inspiration frommecha anime, andCaptain America's voice lines being directed to sound triumphant and expressive, akin to ashōnen protagonist.[27] The game serves as a posthumous credit forTakaya Hashi, the Japanese voice actor of Doctor Doom, who died from heart attack on August 27, 2025.[28][29]
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls was announced during aState of Play presentation on June 4, 2025,[30] accompanied by a developer documentary featuring interviews from various staff at SIE'sXDev team,Arc System Works andMarvel Games.[31] The game made its public debut atEvolution Championship Series (EVO) 2025, including a playable demo available to the public with a portion of the game's roster, and a "Developer Combat Panel" hosted by its developers to detail the game's core mechanics.[32][33] Aclosed beta began on September 5 and ran through September 7, 2025 for PlayStation 5. Participating players were able to try six characters from the roster—Iron Man,Captain America,Ms. Marvel,Star-Lord,Storm andDoctor Doom—in online multiplayer with support forrollback netcode and spectator mode, as well as a tutorial mode upon startup for learning the game's controls and mechanics.[34][35]
The game appeared atTokyo Game Show 2025 later that month with a new playable build, addingSpider-Man andRobbie Reyes / Ghost Rider to the roster available to the public, and publicly debuting theSavage Land stage.[36][37] A second closed beta took place between December 5 and December 7, 2025 on PlayStation 5. Unlike the initial closed beta, this session ran for a full consecutive 72-hour period with no intervals, and allowed players to access Spider-Man and Ghost Rider in online matches.[38] In addition to the Savage Land, the beta debuted a new stage, theX-Mansion.[39]Fighting Souls is the first Marvel-based fighting game sinceMarvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017).[40]
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is scheduled to release as aconsole exclusive forPlayStation 5 andWindows on August 6, 2026.[41][42][43] Additional cosmetics for the online lobby are avaiable aspre-order incentives.[44] The game will also be available in a Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes the pre-order bonuses, additional cosmetics, and the first yearseason pass; and the Ultimate Edition, which includes all of the Digital Deluxe content, additional character colors, and five costumes, one of which is based on Spider-Man's appearance inInsomniac Games'Marvel's Spider-Man series.[44] The game's multiplayer will support fullcross-platform play between the PlayStation 5 and Windows versions.[45]
Multiple comparisons were favorably drawn between Capcom's games andFighting Souls, with particular attention drawn towards the presence of launchers, assist characters and aerial combos, as well as the involvement of 4v4 fights, considered a direct iteration of the 3v3 setup popularized by theMarvel vs. Capcom games.[46][47] Commentators also highlighted the game's resemblance to Arc System Works' prior licensed gameDragon Ball FighterZ (2018).[48][49]