Fighting Souls has brought the FGC together, as its power as an esport now hangs in the balance
Sony is in the process of producing bad PR in recent days after announcing its intention to completely stop disc production for its consoles. However, I believe that the biggest problem they have right now is involving Marvel Tokon: Battle of Souls and its region locks in more than 130 countries, according to SteamDB.
It’s the biggest problem he has united fighting game community (FGC), a community known for fighting and debating what exactly is the best fighting game. So, what exactly is going on here?
Sony seems to have forgotten the lesson of Helldivers 2
In my opinion, it’s possible that the developers of Arc System Works have nothing to do with Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls’ region lock. Developers have been around FGC since the late 90s and have produced amazing fighting games like Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. The last one is the most important, as it falls in the same category as Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a developer that uses an existing IP to make a fighting game out of it.
So, what exactly is the “course of Helldivers 2?” This refers to the time when Sony was forced to remove all region locks from their PC games after player backlash. It started when Sony announced in 2024 that the game would require players to have a PlayStation Account to log in.
Upon hearing this, Helldivers 2 players began to update-bomb the game, forcing the company to finally lift the limits not only of Helldivers 2 but also the rest Sony’s studio games are available on PC a little over a year later. It is also worth noting that during the controversy, Arrowhead Studios, the developers of Helldivers 2, apologized for the decision to close the game completely Sony’s decision.
Now, Sony is trying another version of Helldivers 2 with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. As previous Evo owners, I can’t understand what was going through their heads when they designed the game to be like this. The company should know that fighting games are a universal language. Even if the players don’t speak the same spoken language, everyone understands the frustration of jumping in the middle of being hit by Guile’s flash five times in a row.
That said, the FGC is fighting back, but I have my own concerns.
FGC is fighting back, but is it enough?
The Helldivers 2 scenario is successful because of the large number of people fighting this organization. Interestingly, Helldivers 2 is about spreading democracy, and the company’s place to lock the game is not a democracy at all. But I digress; the problem I’m talking about numbers.
Let’s face it: it’s true that fighting game player numbers can’t be compared to first or third person shooter numbers. Helldivers 2, the most popular, had almost half a million players on Steam alone. Street Fighter 6the most popular fighting game at the time, had only about 76,000 players in its most popular category, according to SteamDB. That’s just a fraction of the people Helldivers 2 had.
Now, my concern is: Does the FGC have enough voice or power to convince a big company like Sony? Of course, top players like Justin Wong again Michael “Yipes” Mendoza they talk about this problem, but is it enough? The greatest strength of FGC is that the game is created directly for the community. That community also doesn’t have the same pool of players as other genres.
Some fans, after finding out that the game will cover regions, have been speculating about whether they will buy it. Since player count is already a problem for FGC, players have been wary about investing in another fighting game that could end up dead after a few months at worst or a year at best. While this doesn’t sound like a good thing, this is FGC’s biggest weapon against Sony.
As I said, FGC already has a limited player pool, and companies want to increase their profits. If that is Sony’s intention, there is no reason for them to lock the game. Now, people are talking about boycotting the launch and letting their wallets do the talking, but there is also a petition that has been launched to show Sony that this game should be available to all players who want to play it.
As of writing, the petition is about to reach 2,000 signatures.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls region lock can wreak havoc on the competitive scene
If Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is released with region lock still in place, this could be the first modern fighting game to be released that way.
Back then, when arcade cabinets were the console of choice for fighting games, Japan often had an advantage in tournaments because the cabinets were released first. The United States would receive them a few months later, and in the worst case, this could take years. This trend was more common for home console releases, with games like Tekken 4 first released in Japan on the PlayStation 2. NA and EU versions followed six months later.
In recent years, fighting game developers have used simultaneous worldwide releases to ensure that every competitor and player starts on a level playing field. However, Sony may have other ideas in this regard. Personally, I don’t really understand why the company insists so much on requiring a PlayStation account for all its games, when the service is not available in all countries.
In the event that Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls launches as is, the fighting game communities of those locked out of the game’s release will lag behind in the competition compared to those who have been playing it since launch. Resentment had arisen in tournaments where the competitive integrity of 2XKO was challenged because a certain tournament allowed beta testers to participate in tournaments, as they were allowed to play champions that had not yet been released to the public.
And that was just a few hours, maybe days, of playtesting.
In the end, I really don’t know what the outcome of this whole situation will be. The request is getting a lot of attention, and top players are expressing their disappointment with Sony’s decision.
Marvel has always been close to FGC’s heart. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is a popular game in the community and is widely considered to be one of the best fighting games ever made. Hacking the new generation of the new Marvel game will be sad.
In my opinion, there is a good chance that Sony will announce that the game will be available in all regions. As I said, the company certainly wants to increase its profits, and releasing it to all regions is the best way to do it. Not only does it increase their income, but the support of big names in FGC makes the issue impossible to ignore. Adding more hope, even if the game is not available in a certain region, its Steam page is still accessible.
With that, I hope we all get to play the game on day one.
