Recently, Arc System Works and Marvel Games revealed a brand-new Marvel fighting game, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. As a longtime Marvel fan, I should’ve been thrilled when those anime-style superheroes graced my screen. Instead, my first reaction was more of, “Oh gosh, another one?” After all, Marvel Games has been throwing the new game reveals at us left and right this year. The big Marvel superhero shooter, Marvel Rivals, just arrived in late 2024, and it seems like the massive full-cast superhero announcements haven’t stopped since.
In March’s Nintendo Direct, Marvel Games and partners Dometu and Tribute Games revealed Marvel Cosmic Invasion. This 2D arcade-style fighting game features a roster of 15 playable characters from the Marvel Universe and is currently slated to arrive in 2025.
Then, just last month, NetEase and Marvel Rivals finally revealed the release date for their next free-to-play collaboration, Marvel Mystic Mayhem. This RPG will be a mobile-focused title with a supernatural theme featuring, you guessed it, a wide roster of playable Marvel heroes. Players will create teams of heroes to face off against one another in this game, as well. Marvel Mystic Mayhem is set to arrive tomorrow, June 25th, making at least two new Marvel beat-em-up games this year alone.
Now, with the announcement of another fighting-style game with a wide Marvel character roster, that’s three games in the next year and some change. While each game does have a unique artistic style, different platform availability, and a slightly different hero roster, it’s still kind of a lot. It’s got me thinking about the “gotta keep up” fatigue that set in as the Marvel Cinematic Universe started spinning off TV series on top of films.
Can Marvel Fans Keep Up With This Many New Games? And Do We Want To?
Listen, I am all for having more options when it comes to Marvel video games. Single-player options with a solid story focus like Marvel’s Spider-Man will always be my preference, but I won’t say no to a Marvel Rivals now and again. But it’s hard to maintain the hype when Marvel is throwing three new games at us in the span of a little over a year. Especially when those three games all have relatively similar concepts and feature quite a few of the same faces (hello, Storm, Spider-Man, and Captain America).
Even though I want to dive into each new superhero game with excitement, the reality is, it’s starting to feel a bit like work. I’ve already missed out on the free Scarlet Witch costume in Marvel Rivals because that free-to-play grind always gets me. Marvel Mystic Mayhem isn’t even out yet, and I’m already confident its gacha mechanic is going to have me feeling overwhelmed as I try to collect all the mystic-aligned heroes.
And two fighting style games, releasing in back-to-back years with Marvel Cosmic Invasion slated for this year and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls aimed at 2026. I love a good arcade-style fighting game with some superhero button mashing as much as the next girl who’s never gotten over the high of beating the boys at Super Smash Bros. in high school. But it’s hard to be excited for two fairly similar games coming back to back.
At this point, I’m going to be going into new game showcases bracing myself against another addition to the expanded Marvel Gaming Universe. And it reminds me of how I started to feel after Wandavision ended. That show was a masterpiece and a delight, but it sparked the beginning of a path I couldn’t follow. As more TV streaming series entered the MCU, it felt impossible to keep up. Those shows are much more of a time investment than even the longest of Marvel releases. To have shows like Loki and Falcon and the Winter Soldier form a part of the mandatory viewing for the MCU started to feel overwhelming. It got to the point that I, and many MCU fans, started to feel more fatigue than excitement as each new project was announced.
Now, I’m worried Marvel Games is at risk of repeating the same mistake. By throwing too many big partner projects at us at once, it’s starting to feel a bit like keeping up with Marvel gaming is a project, not a pleasure. Yes, it’s a little different, since the lore of each game will presumably be separate and playing one won’t be mandatory viewing to understand the other. Even so, it’s starting to feel like a Multiverse that’s a bit too big to handle.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race Here, Marvel
I want Marvel to keep making exciting new games. Personally, I could use a few more with single-hero story focuses than these big roster gacha grabs, but that’s neither here nor there. My fear is that throwing so much at fans at once is going to create fatigue. And that fatigue, much like the MCU fatigue that left theaters far from overflowing with recent releases like Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, could mean less engagement.
Playing video games is literally part of my day job, and even I don’t expect to really keep up with Marvel Rivals, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and Marvel Mystic Mayhem all at once this year. Let alone add Marvel Tokon into the mix in 2026. What does that say about more casual gamers who are here for a good Marvel time?
My fear is that putting so many of these games out there all at once is going to make superhero games flare out too fast. If we can’t keep up with everything everywhere all at once, then Marvel isn’t going to see these games as successes. And if that happens, we’ll go from having too many to none at all. So I’d like to see Marvel Games slow things down a little. Take your time, work on those new projects without necessarily throwing them out there for us to add to our slightly overwhelming lists of games to watch.
Let the release of new games with our favorite Marvel heroes be something to look forward to for years to come, not a flash in the pan moment that’s going to be gone faster than you can say, “Why is it so hard to work in a good Quicksilver reference?”
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