Marvel Tokon Open Beta Ends With A Disaster

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls has wrapped up an open beta that should have showcased its flashy team-based combat. Instead, technical problems became one of its biggest talking points.

Open betas are designed to expose issues before launch, but this was hardly the resounding beta success enjoyed by The Finals. PC performance complaints, PlayStation account requirements, background processes, and a network outage all interfered with players’ ability to evaluate the fighter.

Marvel Tokon’s PC Performance Was Inconsistent

PC players reported frame-rate drops, stuttering, input lag, crashes, and other performance problems during the beta. One X user ran into an issue in which the game’s visuals turned into a pixelated mess, calling it the worst optimization of his life. Another user compared that you can load up and start playing UMVC3 by the time Marvel Tokon reaches its title screen. Obviously, UMVC3 is a very old game, but it shows the absurd load time of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.

Arc System Works apologized for the impact these issues had on the player experience, and even detailed several community-crafted hotfixes in an X thread.

That is particularly damaging for a fighting game. Stable performance and responsive inputs are not optional when matches depend on tight timing, reactions, and combo execution. Even relatively brief slowdowns can make online competition feel inconsistent.

The situation also stands in contrast to smoother public tests, such as when Street Fighter 6’s open beta went live with its core online experience ready for wider scrutiny.

PlayStation Login And Background Processes Drew Criticism

Beyond raw performance, some PC users objected to the PlayStation Network login requirement. Players also reported PlayStation SDK runtime and additional software layers operating in the background while the beta was running.

These observations do not necessarily prove that the SDK caused every performance problem. However, extra authentication and background software naturally attracted scrutiny when the PC build was already struggling. 

Login requirements can also create another failure point. Anyone unable to access a test because of account authentication may want to distinguish a service-side outage from a local error; similar symptoms have appeared in cases such as the Overwatch 2 beta login error.

A Network Outage Further Disrupted The Beta

The open beta was also hit by network and PSN-related disruption, temporarily preventing some players from connecting. 

There is one important caveat: this was a beta, not the finished release. Stress tests exist precisely to identify performance, server, and authentication weaknesses under real player load.

Still, Marvel Tōkon’s launch needs to be considerably cleaner. The combat may have potential, but a competitive fighter lives or dies by stable frame rates, reliable networking, and minimal input delay. Arc System Works now has a very clear list of problems to address.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls releases on August 6, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and PC.