Sony blocks Marvel Tokon on PC in 132 countries — same PSN mistake as Helldivers 2
Sony's new Marvel fighting game, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, launched on August 6 for PS5, Steam, and the Epic Games Store — and promptly found itself blocked in 132 countries on PC because it requires a PlayStation Network account for online multiplayer. The restriction mirrors what happened with Helldivers 2 in 2024, when Sony reversed an identical mandate after a wave of community backlash. This time, Sony appears to have ignored that lesson entirely.
The PSN wall
Developed by Arc System Works — the studio behind Guilty Gear — the game lets players build a team of three Marvel characters and swap between them in real time during matches. It had genuine momentum heading into launch, drawing attention from competitive fighting game players and debuting as a tournament demo in Seoul earlier this year.
The PSN requirement only kicks in for online play. Story mode, arcade mode, and local multiplayer all work without an account. That makes the blanket region-lock harder to justify: players in affected countries can't purchase the game on Steam at all, even to use its offline modes. The block was first spotted through SteamDB data, per AltChar, and has since been confirmed across multiple gaming outlets.
A familiar problem
The affected countries are those where PSN has no official presence — large portions of Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. Checkpoint Gaming notes the crossplay justification Sony typically offers doesn't hold up when the fix — making PSN linking optional — was already proven workable after Helldivers 2. That reversal took months, meaning players in blocked regions waited a long time for a problem Sony created itself.
US and UK players are unaffected, but the fallout is real: Steam reviews are already mixed, weighted down almost entirely by the PSN anger rather than the game itself. Players who got through the login process are broadly positive about the gameplay, visuals, and soundtrack. Critics haven't published formal reviews yet.
MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls lets players switch between three-character teams in real time — but online access requires a PSN account.
Sony has not commented publicly on whether it will reverse the policy before or shortly after launch. If the Helldivers 2 timeline repeats, a fix may come — but not quickly enough to salvage the day-one reception.