Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is one of PlayStation’s more interesting upcoming releases. Developed by Arc System Works in direct collaboration with PlayStation, the console exclusive fighting game is set to launch in under a months’ time on the 6th of August. Ahead of this however, all those interested in checking the game out will be able to do so for free, with an open-beta set to go live next week.

Taking to the PlayStation Blog, Sony detailed the upcoming open-beta for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, writing: “The wait is almost over. The MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls Open Beta is nearly here, and we can’t wait for players to jump into the action.”

Available across PlayStation 5, Steam and the Epic Games Store, the open beta is set to officially go live on the 24th of July at 8AM UK Time, and will remain playable until the 27th – also ending at 8AM.

All those interested will be able to pre-download the game two hours prior to it going live, giving you as much time as possible to play.

Being a beta, Tokon’s full suite of content will of course be locked. That said, users will still have plenty to check out and enjoy, with all of the following being accessible:

• 15 playable characters
• 6 playable stages
• Online Casual and Ranked matches
• Local Versus mode
• Explorable ‘open lobby’ hub world
• Training mode
• 3 Chapters of Tokon’s Episode (campaign) mode

This is far from the first time that Sony has allowed fans to try out Tokon ahead of launch, with various closed tests having taken place since its official announcement.

That said, the game has seen plenty of changes and improvements since, and so it will be interesting to get a clearer understanding of exactly how Marvel Tokon will feel like when the game fully launches next month.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Marvel Tokon so far? Have you been involved in any of the previous playtests? What’s your favourite Arc System Works game? Let us know down below.

PlayStation’s PC / Steam initiative has yielded few successes yet plenty of controversies, with one of the primary issues being many of the games’ PSN requirements – locking out potential players from over 100 different countries in which the service is not active. While it seemed as though this issue had been resolved, the upcoming Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has now run into the exact same problem – currently being blocked in 132 countries.

Marvel Tokon is officially almost upon us, with the tag-team fighting game from PlayStation / Arc System Works set to launch on PlayStation 5 and PC next month in early August. Unfortunately, PC users are once again encountering issues, with SteamDB updates revealing that Marvel Tokon is currently blocked in 132 countries on PC – presumably due to PlayStation Network requirements.

As mentioned, this is far from the first PlayStation game to run into such issues, with Helldivers 2 being the most famous in this regard. In case you forgot, the highly popular co-op shooter did initially launch on Steam globally to great success.

Unfortunately, this was quickly followed by Sony’s PSN requirements, leading to the game no longer working in over 170 countries. After plenty of backlash, Sony reversed course – making this latest decision an odd one to say the least.

All that being said, Marvel Tokon still has roughly a month to go until its release, and so hopefully its current state is merely a matter of logistics and that come the 6th of August, the game is fully available and playable to all.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this latest move? Will it remain this way by launch, or is this just a matter of behind-the-scenes shenanigans? Let us know your thoughts down below.

In recent weeks, we have heard an increasing number of worrying reports concerning Xbox and its supposed plans to hold major rounds of firing – possibly resulting in the closure of multiple studios. While nothing official has come to pass, insiders have claimed that one of the projects potentially being affected is Arkane Studios’ much-anticipated Blade.

July looks set to be the time in which Microsoft will finally make its official decision on the fates of many of its studios, following the past few weeks of reports in which it was claimed that the likes of Double Fine Productions; Ninja Theory; Compulsion Games and others could be on the chipping block.

One studio whose name has also been thrown about is Arkane Lyon. Known for developing the Dishonored series; Deathloop and NOT Redfall, the France-based team have been working on Marvel’s Blade since early 2022.

Unfortunately, despite recent claims which seemed to suggest otherwise, it appears as though Arkane and Blade are potentially being shut down and cancelled respectively.

According to known industry insider Tom Warren via The Verge, “Microsoft is currently weighing closing at least five studios, including the developers behind Marvel's Blade,” adding that “Sources tell me Microsoft wants to cancel Blade as part of a wave of cost cuts and job losses that are planned for the company's Xbox gaming division.”

As per the report, Blade was internally delayed to late 2027, and was suffering from some budget-related issues – though it is not clear whether this is the reason for the potential decision.

Either way, it looks as though Microsoft are still willing to try and sell off these studios – Arkane included – and so hopefully all of these teams are able to stay together in one form or another.

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KitGuru says: Have you been looking forward to Blade? How disappointed would you be if Arkane were to close down? Let us know down below.

As with many fighting games, Marvel Tokon has been slowly but surely unveiling its roster of characters set to be playable come the game’s launch. With the PlayStation-published title a little over one month away from release, the team at Arc System Works have finally unveiled the full line-up of heroes and villains.

Given its 4v4 nature, PlayStation and Arc System Works have been unveiling Marvel Tokon’s character roster in groups of four under different teams. The final team has now officially been announced, with the ‘Samurai Riders’ consisting of:

• Blade
• Deadpool
• Loki
• Ghost Rider

In total, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls will have 20 playable characters at launch, with the rest of the roster being as follows:

• Amazing Guardians
  • Ms. Marvel
  • Peni Parket
  • Spider-Man
  • Star-Lord
• Fighting Avengers
  • Black Panther
  • Captain America
  • Hulk
  • Iron Man
• Knights of Doom
  • Carnage
  • Doctor Doom
  • Green Goblin
  • Magneto
• Unbreakable X-Men
  • Danger
  • Magik
  • Storm
  • Wolverine

Given Marvel’s massive roster of hundreds of characters, there are of course tons of notable heroes/villains missing from the line-up. That said, Sony has already promised that the game will get at least one more team of 4 via DLC – with further additions hopefully coming later down the line.

First thing’s first however, we will have to wait and see how fans react to Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls when the full game launches on PS5 and PC on the 6th of August.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this finalised launch roster? Are there any glaring absences? What pairing would you like to see added as DLC? Let us know down below.

Arkane Studios’ Blade project has been surrounded by uncertainty in recent months. The game did not reappear at this year's Xbox Games Showcase and with Microsoft set to announce another round of layoffs across the Xbox division soon, the lack of official news on Blade has led to concern that the game could be cancelled, or Arkane could be closed down. However, there are still signs of life for the Blade project.

A newly published Entertainment Weekly interview offers at least a small update on Blade. Although the piece went live in mid‑June, the interview itself took place back in May, and during that conversation Bethesda’s Todd Howard said he had seen Blade “just yesterday” and that Arkane is “doing a really great job”. Howard did not elaborate further, but his comments indicate that the project was still in active development very recently.

Howard primarily oversees Bethesda Game Studios, but he does occasionally check in on projects across Bethesda’s other studios. He was notably involved with MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which launched to strong reviews in 2024, so his awareness of Blade isn’t unusual.

With that said, the broader situation remains unclear. Xbox and Arkane have not provided an official update since the game’s first teaser, which contained no gameplay or release window.

KitGuru Says: I hope development on Blade continues. Unfortunately, we still don't know the full breadth of Microsoft's cost-cutting plans for Xbox. So far, only Ninja Theory, Double Fine and Compulsion Games are confirmed to be involved but there are likely to be some cuts across Zenimax (Bethesda parent company) too.

Ever since she was appointed as the new head of Xbox, Asha Sharma has been quite vocal, expressing thoughts on the console maker’s past mistakes, future prospects and more. In an interesting little anecdote, Sharma recently claimed that the FPS juggernaut Call of Duty is “bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe” – though no specifics were shared.

Taking part in an interview with the publication Entertainment Weekly, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty sat down to discuss the future of Xbox, particularly when it comes to their Hollywood ambitions.

For the uninitiated, Microsoft recently offered a major update on their previously-announced Gears of War film, while also revealing that a live-action adaptation of Rare’s Sea of Thieves has now started development. This of course comes in the wake of their highly successful Minecraft film, their popular Fallout show (and far less successful Halo TV show).

In discussing the potential for other franchise adaptations, Booty stated: “We've got over 20 franchises that have made a billion dollars, lifetime. I feel a lot of responsibility to shepherd that. We're the stewards of that IP. We're not the owners, because really, the communities own those.”

Perhaps the most interesting comment came from Asha Sharma however, who followed up by claiming: “You won't see us try to become the biggest linear provider in the world or anything like that, but I think great games are culture, and culture is entertainment. If you think about it, we've got the number two show of all time on Amazon [Fallout], Minecraft was top 5 in 2025, Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So it all measures. [There's] more appetite to work with us on titles than ever before.”

While no specifics were shared with regards to data, Amazon’s Fallout Show did reportedly have the second biggest debut on Prime with 65 million viewers during its first two weeks (only being beaten out by LoTR: The Rings of Power).

When it comes to Call of Duty, the FPS series has supposedly made around $31 Billion in its lifetime – slightly under the $35 Billion attributed to the MCU. That said, it appears as though merchandising has not been factored into these figures, and so the real value of each IP is perhaps a bit vague.

Either way, Call of Duty is one of the biggest video game franchises of all time, and so it will be interesting to see how successful the upcoming COD film winds up being.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Sharma’s statement? Do you agree? How much money will the Call of Duty film make at the box office? Let us know down below.

Across Insomniac Games’s many Spider-Man projects, we have seen a majority of suits from various films (past, present and future) being brought over into the games via free updates. While post-launch support for Spider-Man 2 had ended quite a while ago, Insomniac have revealed that a surprise update is coming next month – adding Peter Parker’s new suit from the upcoming Brand New Day film.

Posting the latest film trailer for Spider-Man: New Day, PlayStation revealed that Marvel’s Spider-Man is set to receive a free update across PS5 and PC just a few days ahead of the movie’s premiere on the 31st of July.

Though seemingly nothing too significant, this patch is scheduled to arrive on the 28th of July and will bring with it “a brand new Fresh Start Suit” inspired by Peter’s outfit in the upcoming Brand New Day.

Insomniac’s Spider-Man games have featured tons of well-received suits. Even so, many of the most popular have been the ones based on various film projects – including the iconic Sam Raimi suits, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 outfit and of course the stylish Spider-Verse designs.

While ostensibly a marketing tactic (especially when it comes to upcoming films) having more suits in Spider-Man is never a bad thing; particularly since it does look to be a solid addition to the roster.

With that said, it will be interesting to learn whether the update brings with it more than just the single suit. We will have to wait and find out when the patch goes live next month.

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KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to Brand New Day? What do you think of the new suit? Which Tom Holland Spider-Man suit is your favourite? Let us know down below.

Last week, Skydance New Media and Skydance Interactive were officially brought together under one umbrella as Paramount Skydance revealed Paramount Game Studios, with Tony Driscoll running the division and veteran creator Amy Hennig in the creative director's chair. While part of that reveal was that Hennig's Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra and untitled Star Wars game are still in the works, in an interview with IGN following the reveal, we got a timeline update for Rise of Hydra that you could probably guess, which is that it has, unsurprisingly, been delayed again. That confirmation comes from Shawn Kittleson, who was […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/marvel-1943-rise-of-hydra-delayed-2027-amy-hennig-given-time-to-cook/

Sony’s recent PlayStation State of Play was jam-packed with a number of exciting announcements, from the first look at Ikumi Nakamura’s ‘Kemuri’ to official confirmation of Rayman Legends Retold, and of course, the announcement of the God of War spin-off / side-quel Laufey. As expected however, the console maker kicked things off with the first proper look at gameplay and pre-order details for Insomniac’s Wolverine ahead of its launch this September.

Shown off during Sony’s State of Play (and expanded upon via the PlayStation Blog), Insomniac Games offered fans a comprehensive look into Marvel’s Wolverine. As expected, the title is more linear and structured in nature when compared to the studio’s Spider-Man offerings, being described as “a brutal, violent, and action-packed single-player adventure.”

Even so, it appears as though players will be able to approach certain situations differently, with the gameplay demo showcasing a mix of both stealth and bloody action alongside a ton of environmental interactivity during combat.

Perhaps the biggest surprise from the showing was the reveal that Logan won’t always be fighting alone, with the likes of Jean Grey assisting during the mission; allowing for cool dual-takedowns of enemies. Other notable mutants revealed to be present during the story include Mystique and Sabretooth.

Gameplay-wise, Insomniac detailed some of Logan's many abilities, with the Wolverine being able to tap into special combat moves such as a ‘Tornado Spin’ and ‘Bull Rush’. Alongside a health bar, players will be able to manage Logan’s rage meter. Split into 3 chunks, “every successful attack, parry, and kill will build up Logan’s Rage” allowing him to hit harder and heal faster – with Tier 3 activating a comic-inspired “monochromatic explosion of savagery.”

While we already knew when to expect Wolverine to be released, PlayStation have now gone live with pre-orders. Announcing 2 different editions, the standard costs £69.99 and will include the core game and little else (although all those who pre-order will be given early access to a couple cosmetics alongside 1 technique point and a collection of PlayStation avatars).

The Digital Deluxe Edition meanwhile goes for £10 extra (£79.99) and throws in 5 exclusive skins; 5 exclusive claws and 3 additional technique points – alongside the aforementioned pre-order bonuses.

While we’ve already seen more than enough to generate a great deal of excitement, Insomniac Games have promised that there is more to share in the lead-up to launch, including “more intense battles, suits, enemy factions, and characters”. Marvel’s Wolverine officially launches on the 15th of September.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What did you think of the State of Play? Will Wolverine be a day-one purchase? Which suits do you hope they will include? Let us know down below.

Insomniac Games in particular has had a bit of a history when it comes to their projects leaking early. Be it through data breaches or voice actor slip-ups the studio’s in-development titles have seemingly been known for quite some time. That said, in what is perhaps the first semi-official confirmation, the face model for Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spider-Man has teased their next project.

Posting a story to their Instagram page, the face model for Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spider-Man games ‘Ben Jordan’ shared an image of themselves at a performance capture studio alongside the caption “IYKYK” (if you know you know).

Having worked exclusively on the Spider-Man games in this particular industry, many fans are speculating that work is officially starting on the unannounced Spider-Man 3.

As mentioned, Insomniac Games have suffered from data breaches in the past which indicated that the studio would be working on a 3rd mainline entry in the successful Spider-Man series.

That said, with a number of these leaked projects (such as Spider-Man The Great Web and the Venom spin-off) seemingly being cancelled, the status of Spider-Man 3 was not guaranteed. Fortunately, it appears as though these fears can be put to rest.

Of course, Insomniac’s next project is slated to be Marvel’s Wolverine, with the much-anticipated title set to release later this year. As such, it is likely that the next Spider-Man is still quite a ways away – even though Insomniac are a surprisingly efficient studio.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this teaser? Could it be anything else other than Spider-Man 3? Let us know your thoughts down below.

As part of Marvel’s renewed interest in the video games market, the superhero giant partnered with a number of different publishers and studios to develop a range of games based on their iconic legacy of characters. While this has led to major successes (with Insomniac’s Spider-Man games) and infamous failures (such as the live-service Avengers title), the initiative also spawned a number of more forgotten projects. Fortunately, one of their most underrated releases – Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – could be getting another chance at life, with the ill-fated 2021 title seemingly set to land on the Nintendo Switch 2 soon.

As discovered by reddit user ‘venom_daemon’ the Taiwanese Game Rating Board recently published a listing for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy for the Nintendo Switch 2, all-but-confirming that the title is scheduled to arrive on Nintendo’s latest system sooner rather than later.

No additional details were revealed, and so for now it is unknown when the game is planned to release. Even so, this latest listing is interesting not only due to the fact that Guardians of the Galaxy was a critical hit yet a commercial miss, but also due to the fact that the title is technically already playable on the OG Switch (albeit only through a cloud streaming version).

Upon its release, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was somewhat unfairly maligned, with the sour taste of the previous year’s live-service Avengers tainting the overall perception of the title – despite the fact that it was a wholly different narrative-driven AAA single player experience.

With half a decade of hindsight behind us however, it will be interesting to see what players think of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy upon its eventual arrival onto the Switch 2.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What did you think of the Guardians of the Galaxy game? Was it unfairly lumped into the Avengers hate? Will it receive a critical re-evaluation upon its Switch 2 arrival? Let us know down below.

Earlier this year, Marvel announced the MaXimum Collection, developed in collaboration with Konami. The new collection grants instant access to some of Marvel's classic 8-bit and 16-bit era Arcade games, remastered for modern hardware. Now just a few weeks on from the announcement, we have a release date.

The headliner of this collection is X-Men: The Arcade Game. This definitive mutant beat-'em-up is being reborn with full online multiplayer support for up to six players, bolstered by rollback netcode. Alongside this Arcade era classic, fans can experience Captain America and The Avengers, as well as the SNES and Genesis versions of the symbiote classics Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage and Separation Anxiety. The collection also delves deep into handheld history, including the Game Boy and Game Gear ports of Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge.

Even the NES Silver Surfer game makes its return in this collection, with added rewind and save state functionality to make the experience less frustrating for casual playthroughs.

Beyond the games themselves, the Marvel MaXimum Collection also includes a music player featuring all of the iconic tracks from these games, along with several new ones. It also includes High-Res scans of the original box art, original instruction manuals and more.

The Marvel MaXimum Collection will be available for PC and consoles starting on March 27th, both physically and digitally.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: Were you a fan of any of the retro Marvel games?

In a massive announcement for retro enthusiasts, Limited Run Games has officially revealed the Marvel MaXimum Collection during the IGN Fan Fest. Developed in collaboration with Marvel Games and Konami, this compendium is far more than a basic port of 8-bit and 16-bit classics. It's a curated archival project aimed at preserving the “Golden Age” of Marvel gaming for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

The collection stands out by refusing to choose favourites among hardware history, instead including every major console and handheld iteration for its featured titles, resulting in a total of six games.

The headliner of the package is the return of X-Men: The Arcade Game. This definitive mutant beat-'em-up is being reborn with full online multiplayer support for up to six players, bolstered by rollback netcode. Alongside the arcade legend, fans can experience the original and unique NES platforming spin on Captain America and The Avengers, as well as the SNES and Genesis versions of the symbiote classics Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage and Separation Anxiety. The collection also delves deep into handheld history, including the Game Boy and Game Gear ports of Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge.

For those who remember the crushing difficulty of the 8-bit era, the inclusion of the challenging Silver Surfer on NES comes with rewind functionality and save states. Beyond the gameplay, the collection serves as a digital museum, featuring a music player with iconic chip-tune scores, including new tracks from legendary composer Chris Huelsbeck, and an archive filled with high-resolution scans of original box art, instruction manuals, and vintage advertisements.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: This is the kind of treatment these licences deserve. By including a collection of retro games such as these, Limited Run and Konami are treating them as historical artefacts rather than just old games. 

While Insomniac recently stated that it wouldn't be sharing more news about its Wolverine game until the Spring, it turns out that wasn't entirely true. Today, Marvel and Sony both announced that Insomniac's Wolverine will be launching in September. 

Marvel's Wolverine from Insomniac Games is now officially launching on the 15th of September, giving it a solid two months on the market before Rockstar dominates the charts with Grand Theft Auto 6.

Insomniac's Wolverine is a standalone game set in an expanded in-game universe that also encompasses Insomniac's Spider-Man games. Unlike Spider-Man, Wolverine will not be an open-world game, but will instead be a linear action-adventure with a number of unique levels.

While not yet confirmed, Wolverine is believed to be a precursor to Insomniac's own X-Men game.

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KitGuru Says: Are you looking forward to Wolverine? How long do you think it will take for the game to come to PC?