Kazuto Sekine, director of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, has issued a public apology regarding the game's troubled PC launch. In a statement released on social media and a more detailed blog post on the game's Steam page, Sekine acknowledged the stability issues that impacted players and expressed sincere regret for the frustration caused.
The development team has identified specific areas requiring attention, including the responsiveness of player inputs and concerns about overly frequent character assists and tags. Sekine noted that certain attacks, particularly those from aerial dashes or during Free Flight, were not always registering correctly. To improve this, the team plans to adjust input windows to ensure a smoother and more reliable gameplay experience. Currently, there is a six-frame input buffer, but changes will be made so that actions can be performed even if a button is not held.
Regarding the frequency of assists and tags, Sekine admitted that the game's current state has exceeded the developers' original intentions. While the design aimed for constant character switching, the team recognizes community feedback that this may be happening too often. In response, they are working to increase cooldown times for certain assists and switches. The goal is to maintain offensive pressure while also allowing for more distinct neutral play phases. These adjustments are being prioritized for implementation in upcoming updates.
However, Sekine indicated that significant changes to overall character balance will be minimal at this stage. The development team believes it is too early to make broad adjustments, especially as the planned changes to assists and tags will also impact the game's dynamics. They are currently in a "discovery phase" and feel it is premature to alter individual character traits.
This apology follows an earlier statement from producer Takeshi Yamanaka, who admitted that regaining player trust after the PC launch difficulties would be "extremely challenging." Despite the technical issues, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls received positive critical reception, with IGN awarding it a nine out of ten. While initial Steam reviews were mixed due to PC port complaints, Arc System Works has since released updates that have resolved many player-reported problems and has maintained communication with the fighting game community.