The numbers tell a pretty bleak story. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls launched on PC on August 6 to a peak of around 25,000 concurrent players on Steam. Within a few days, that figure had dropped to roughly 14,000 at its daily peak, and at points dipped below 7,000 concurrent players. For a $70 live service fighting game banking on a healthy cross-platform playerbase, losing nearly half your audience before the first weekend is over is a serious problem.
How the PC version went sideways so fast
The warning signs were there before launch. The open beta already drew complaints about stuttering and frame rate problems on PC, and players hoping those issues would be ironed out by release day were largely disappointed. The full launch brought the same problems, plus a few new ones.
Steam reviews landed at a "Mixed" rating almost immediately. Looking at the recurring complaints, three issues dominate: mandatory PlayStation Network account linking, no Linux or Steam Deck support, and frame rate performance that players describe as unacceptable for a competitive fighting game. One Steam reviewer summed it up bluntly: "45fps for a fighting game is embarrassing. If I can run Tekken and Street Fighter, I should be able to run this."
The PSN account requirement is a particularly sore point. Marvel Tokon was already blocked in over 100 countries before launch because of it, drawing comparisons to the Helldivers 2 controversy from 2024. Sony eventually reversed course on that requirement for Helldivers 2 after a massive community backlash. No such reversal has happened here. PC players who can access the game still have to create and link a PlayStation account just to reach the main menu, and players in blocked regions are simply locked out entirely.
When an FGC icon uninstalls live on stream
The moment that really crystallized the situation for the broader community came when MaximilianDood, one of the most recognizable figures in the fighting game community, uninstalled the PC version live on stream. Max has a cameo in the Street Fighter movie and has been approached by Epic to promote Fortnite, so when he has something to say about a fighting game, the FGC pays attention.
His reaction wasn't a dramatic meltdown. That almost made it worse. He was calm, measured, and clearly frustrated: "This is bad, chat. I don't think I can play this anymore. It's making me like the game significantly less. You just have to watch it stutter like crazy. It's literally Dragon Ball PTSD all over again. It's really sh*t."
He clarified he still enjoys the game itself and plans to play exclusively on PS5 going forward. But that distinction barely softened the impact. A prominent FGC content creator publicly abandoning the PC version and calling it unplayable is exactly the kind of moment that spreads fast and sticks in people's memories.
The fallout extended to tournament organizers. At least one US fighting game tournament announced it would run its competition exclusively on PS5 hardware in direct response to the PC port's state. That's notable because the FGC has historically preferred PC setups at events for consistency and flexibility. Choosing PS5 as the "stable" option over PC says a lot about where things currently stand.
The frustrating part: the game itself is actually good
Here's the thing that makes this situation genuinely frustrating rather than just another bad port story. The PS5 version of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is by most accounts excellent. Arc System Works delivered exactly what fans wanted from a Marvel fighting game: stylish visuals, a deep combat system, and a roster that spans Spider-Man, Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, Carnage, Ghost Rider, Deadpool, and more.
Many of the negative Steam reviews aren't actually criticizing the game's design. They're praising it while slamming the technical state of the port. "First and foremost, Arcsys made an INCREDIBLE game," one highly rated review reads. "The unfortunate fact of the matter is that even despite how good the game is, SONY insists on making it as bad of an experience as possible."
That's the real damage here. The reputation hit isn't landing on Arc System Works' game design. It's landing on the PC port specifically, and by extension on Sony as publisher. This is a pattern that PC players have seen from Sony before, and the goodwill from a genuinely strong fighting game is getting eaten alive by infrastructure and optimization decisions that should have been sorted before the game shipped.
Arc System Works has acknowledged the situation, posting a statement saying the team is "actively investigating" the performance reports and asking players to keep submitting feedback. That's a start, but for a fighting game where first impressions determine whether the competitive community adopts it, "we're looking into it" after launch carries a lot less weight than shipping a functional product.
What needs to happen next
The player count decline is steep enough that the damage may already be partially baked in. Some players who bounced off the PC version in the first week won't come back even after patches. The live service model depends on consistent engagement, and a rocky launch week can hollow out a playerbase before the game finds its footing.
Sony needs to address the PSN requirement situation. The Helldivers 2 precedent exists. Reversing course is possible. Keeping over 100 countries locked out of a $70 fighting game is not a sustainable position, and it's actively shrinking the pool of potential players for a game that needs scale to thrive.
For players on PS5, the situation is genuinely good right now, and if you want to stay on top of everything in the game, the Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls strategy guides cover characters, combos, and progression in detail. If you're a PC player waiting on fixes, keeping an eye on Arc System Works' official channels is the move for now. The underlying game is worth it. The port just needs to catch up.
