The open beta for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls went live this week, and the community reaction has been... complicated. A poll tracking purchase intent across 1,377 votes paints a picture that Arc System Works and Sony will want to study carefully before launch.
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What the numbers actually say
Here's the lowdown: 47% of poll respondents said they have no interest in the game at all. That is a significant chunk. But dig past that headline number and the picture gets more textured.
Only 10% have already pre-ordered, and another 9% plan to buy day one without a pre-order. That puts confirmed day-one buyers at roughly 19% of respondents. A further 10% plan to buy eventually but not at launch, 11% are still on the fence, and 13% are waiting for a discount. So while nearly half are out entirely, the remaining 53% represent a spectrum from enthusiastic to cautiously interested.
The favorite character poll tells its own story. Across 575 votes, Wolverine leads at 17%, followed by Spider-Man at 14% and Magik at 11%. Blade sits at 10%. The rest of the 16-character beta roster is spread fairly thin, with Danger and Peni Parker pulling just 2% each. If you want the full picture of every confirmed fighter heading into launch, the Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls full roster guide breaks down all characters and what the Year 1 DLC pass adds.
Why so many players are sitting this one out
The reasons people are skipping break down into a few distinct camps, and none of them are really about the game's quality.
The biggest factor is simply genre preference. Tag-team fighters occupy a specific niche, and a lot of players who enjoy Tekken, Mortal Kombat, or Street Fighter 6 don't have much appetite for the assist-and-swap format. Several beta players specifically called out the control scheme as a friction point: assists and tags mapped to separate buttons creates a coordination challenge that feels more like multitasking than fighting, at least early on.
Marvel IP fatigue is real too. Enough players described the game as "more Marvel" to suggest the license is actively working against it with a segment of the audience, even as Arc System Works' anime-style visuals are drawing genuine praise from others. The Japanese studio's approach to rendering Marvel heroes, with dynamic key poses and fluid animation, is clearly landing for fans who grew up with Marvel vs. Capcom.
Rollback netcode performance during the beta drew mixed reports. Most matches ran fine, but stuttering was noticeable in some sessions, and the PC version had additional technical friction for some players. Arc System Works appears to be actively responding to feedback, which suggests further optimisation before the full release.
The beta experience itself
For players who did get hands-on time, the consensus skews positive. The single-player Episodes mode surprised several testers with its comic book presentation, with each of the five narrative arcs featuring a different artist. Betten Court, known for My Hero Academia: Vigilante, handles Spider-Man's story. That kind of creative investment in solo content is not something Arc System Works is typically known for, and it's landing as a genuine bonus rather than an afterthought.
The spectacle factor is hard to argue with. Even players getting beaten repeatedly in ranked matches described the visual experience as a highlight. The anime-style look is consistent with Arc System Works' work on Guilty Gear Strive, but the Marvel characters bring a recognizable energy that makes the fights feel distinct.
The "easy input" control scheme for special moves has divided opinion. Traditional DP motions are still available and deal more damage, which is a smart design choice: accessible entry point for newcomers, with a mechanical reward for players willing to learn proper inputs. The key here is that Arc System Works isn't removing depth to chase casual players, just layering access on top of it.
What this means for launch
The 47% disinterest figure sounds alarming, but context matters. Fighting games have never been mass-market sellers in the way open-world or shooter titles are. The genre sustains itself on dedicated communities, and the fighting games community appears genuinely excited about Marvel Tokon in a way that more casual audiences aren't.
Players waiting for a discount or a fuller roster are a known pattern in the genre. The wait-for-DLC crowd has been a fixture since Street Fighter IV, and their eventual purchases still count. The question is whether the day-one base is large enough to build healthy online lobbies, which in turn determines whether the fence-sitters convert.
Before committing to a purchase, you'll want to check the Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls editions and prices guide to compare what each version actually includes and whether the pre-order bonuses are worth acting on before the beta window closes.
