PC Sales and Player Count Concerns

It’s been over a month since Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls released, and its early sales figures and player counts on PC are sparking concern within the fighting game community about its longevity.

Arc System Works’ latest tag fighting game has suffered no end of discourse within the FGC; some players love it, while others are severely dissatisfied with its tag system and online matchmaking. Most everyone was excited for a new, fast-paced Marvel fighting game from the developers of the highly-lauded Guilty Gear series and Dragon Ball FighterZ — but after launch, that excitement seems to have dwindled into a spiral of frustration.

Data from Steam Charts shows that the title boasts a current active PC player count of 427 players on Steam, with a 24-hour peak of 791 players. The game’s all-time peak on Steam is listed at 13,787 players, though these figures do not account for PlayStation users.

Sales figures for Tokon on PC have also driven discourse around the game; data from Alinea Analytics shows a cavernous disparity between platforms, with 82% of copies being sold on PlayStation compared to just 18% on Steam. That being said, it has generated an estimated $49.7 million in revenue, selling approximately 750,000 copies across both platforms combined.

Street Fighter 6 remains the most successful fighting game on the market right now, and Tokon was unlikely to topple it. The game is seeing success on PlayStation, but its extremely rough launch on PC is likely to blame for the severe disparity between platforms.

Launch Issues and Community Reaction

The game infamously suffered issues with its PC port at launch, to the point where prominent community figure Maximilian Dood uninstalled it during a live stream. While a patch was quickly released to help solve these problems, Tokon’s producer admitted that it would be difficult to regain players’ trust after this, and the game’s director, Kazuto Sekine, apologized for the ordeal in a statement a month later.

While Tokon appears to be thriving on PlayStation, its comparatively lackluster playerbase on PC and strikingly smaller sales figures on Steam have sparked a debate within the fighting game community as to whether or not the game has what it takes to weather the storm in an increasingly crowded market of IP-based tag fighting games. The game was also initially blocked in 132 countries due to PSN requirements.

One of the loudest voices in this conversation is Guilty Gear and Smash Bros pro William ‘Leffen’ Hjelte. “Unless Tokon turns the game around gameplay wise by next patch, I'm gonna drop it,” he wrote in a post on X/Twitter. “Gameplay aside, I can't even get matches in EU, it feels like the serious playerbase is maybe, at best, 1/10th of Strive’s and 2XKO’s here.

“I genuinely think the game is saveable if they act fast and correctly, but with us not even knowing when the patch is coming and only four characters coming (no date), I think it's probably over, at least if you care about having a big scene. Very sad, I had a lot of high hopes for Tokon.”

I genuinely think the game is saveable if they act fast and correctly but with us not even knowing when the patch is coming and only 4 chars coming (no date) I think its probably over, at least if you care about having a big scene.Very sad, I had a lot of high hopes for Tokon.

“Dragon Ball FighterZ sold over two million copies in its first week,” another player pointed out. “Tokon probably won't even break one million in six months. This is truly sad that they fumbled such an easy win.”

“Yeah... This game will only have a year's worth of content, and only because it's already made or in the planning stages. I don't think Cyclops will bring in the crowd Tokon needs,” another speculated.

Pushback and Defense from the FGC

Others, however, are arguing that it’s only been just under two months since the game came out, and are pointing to its success on PlayStation as to why things might not be as grim as some voices in the FGC believe.

“Marvel Tokon came out August 6. Not even two months ago,” YouTuber and prominent community member Mightykeef said. “Not… even… two months ago. I’ve seen such an insane amount of doom posting for a fighting game that has not even been able to breath for two months, lol.”

“Tokon is an incredible fighting game, but it's still a fighting game. Always a niche genre. Hell, one of the goats of the genre, UMVC3, didn't crack 600k in two months,” another pointed out.

“It took Marvel vs Capcom 2 years to become the mythical legend it is. Started in arcade, then ported over to Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox. It’s not gonna happen overnight. And I love Tokon, I want more of it. We need to really end the stupid seasonal DLC crap. Just launch with more characters,” another said.

The FGC culture is so different than I remember. Marvel Tokon came out August 6th. Not even two months ago.Not… even… two months ago. I’ve seen such an insane amount of doom posting for a fighting game that has not even been able to breath for two months lol https://t.co/1LGW70FoEG

What’s your take on this conversation? Do you think Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is in a healthy state with a bright future ahead, or do you believe that the game is already on its way to irrelevance? Let us know in the comments below.