Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is another example of the infamous Marvel video game curse according to Reader's Feature.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls - Not a Surefire Success As a reader reflects on Sony's recent release of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, they can't help but think about the long list of Marvel video game failures. Despite the potential for success, it seems that even good games struggle to sell. Sony's launch of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls was a bit shaky, and I can't quite figure out why.

Perhaps they were under pressure to meet deadlines, but with the PC version being so buggy, why not just delay it for a few weeks? It's not like they would have missed the holiday season - it was only August. However, instead of taking the time to fix the issues, the publisher decided to release it anyway, with the mindset of "who cares if it works or not?" As expected, this decision backfired and the game was a total flop on PC.

The negative word of mouth may have even affected the PlayStation 5 version, which also didn't do well. It's a shame because I actually enjoyed the beta, but I wouldn't want to pay full price for it. But even if the game had been polished and bug-free, I don't think it would have been a hit.

It's strange, but Marvel video games just don't seem to sell. Aside from the Spider-Man games and Lego tie-ins, there haven't been many successful console and PC titles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) era. The first ones were low-budget games from Sega, before they realized the potential of the MCU.

Looking at the list of games, the first one that came out after the MCU's success was Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series. I had never heard of it until now, but apparently, it was a flop. Then there was Marvel vs.

Capcom: Infinite, a series that many people would have preferred to see continue rather than Marvel Tōkon, but it didn't do well either. Next, we had Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, with Spider-Man heavily featured in the marketing. However, despite the popular character, the game didn't do well.

And then came Square Enix's expensive live service game, Marvel's Avengers, which was also a flop. It's clear that there's a pattern here, but it's not because the games were bad. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel's Midnight Suns were both amazing games, but they didn't sell well.

Even the recent scrolling beat 'em-up, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, seemed to go unnoticed. But why? I've been trying to find a logical reason, but I can't seem to come up with one.

Is it because people assume tie-in games will be bad? But Guardians of the Galaxy and Midnight Suns were great at capturing the characters and humor of the films. Even the Avengers game had a good story mode.

Maybe people want something that's part of the MCU canon, with the same actors and voiceovers as the movies. But even that doesn't explain the success of the Spider-Man games, which are completely different from the films. It's a real puzzle, but the evidence is clear: if it's not a Spider-Man game or aimed at kids, it's not going to be a hit.

This begs the question - what about Wolverine? He may be a popular character, but he's still not as big as Spider-Man, and his game doesn't seem as appealing to non-fans, since his powers are mainly focused on fighting. And what other Marvel games are in the works?

We have Blade, EA's Iron Man game, and Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. I wouldn't be surprised if all of them turn out to be flops. It doesn't matter if they're good games or not - they have good developers behind them, so they probably are.

But it seems that the public has spoken, and they're just not interested in Marvel games. I just wish I knew why. By reader Trepsils EA's Iron Man game is still on the way, apparently.

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