Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls reportedly opened with fewer than 3,000 packaged copies sold in Japan, a number that would sit far below almost every notable Arc System Works fighting game release in the country.
The figure comes from Japanese retail sales tracking, which counts boxed copies sold through participating stores. That means it doesn’t include PlayStation Store downloads, Steam purchases, or any sales outside Japan. Sony, Arc System Works, and Marvel Games haven’t published launch numbers of their own.
For context, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 moved 66,921 physical copies on PS3 in its Japanese debut. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, widely seen as a commercial disappointment, still managed around 10,000 on PS4. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle opened at 15,867. Dragon Ball FighterZ did roughly 69,000. Street Fighter 6 launched with about 33,000 across PS4 and PS5.
Why the number is so low
Several factors are being pointed at, none of them confirmed as the cause.
Marvel Tōkon shipped only on PS5 and PC. There’s no Switch or Switch 2 version, and Nintendo hardware dominates Japanese physical charts. That said, Street Fighter 6 also skipped Nintendo platforms in 2023 and still performed well in Japan, so the argument only goes so far.
Players in Japan have also complained about thin local promotion. Some say the game never had a dedicated Japanese social account or a proper standalone Japanese site beyond its store page, and that Japanese outlets had to work with English trailers and move lists. Others report seeing ads in electronics stores, on YouTube and Twitch, and at least one TV spot, so the campaign clearly existed in some form.
There’s also the game itself. Tōkon is a 4v4 active tag fighter with a shared health bar, a format that has always been a niche inside a niche. Arc System Works built in accessibility tools, but tag mechanics and assists still scare off casual buyers.
The PC version had a rough start too, with complaints about optimization, mandatory PSN sign-in, and no working Steam Deck support out of the box. Some players say patches have improved matchmaking. Others say performance is still messy.
