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• GTA 6 leak hunters now face fake downloads designed to compromise their computers
• The suspicious ISO reportedly disables Windows security tools after execution on affected systems
• A tiny 50KB payload allegedly sits inside a gigantic 113GB file

Keen Grand Theft Auto 6 fans searching for leaked copies now face another risk: a huge ISO file is reportedly circulating across torrent sites.

The file is said to measure 113GB, yet online testers claim almost all that space consists of empty data rather than genuine game assets.

Their analysis reportedly found a small malicious program hidden inside the file, making the download appear far more dangerous than it normally would.

The huge size made it feel genuine

The suspicious file reportedly began circulating on torrent sites after renewed interest in leaked GTA 6material and claims of a complete game build.

However, testers who examined the ISO reportedly found that it contains 99.99% empty zeroes, leaving only about 50KB of data identified as malicious code.

“I did some reverse engineering and confirmed that it is fully fake and full of viruses,” said @Aidas29506493, an online researcher on X.

The 113GB figure was created to make the file resemble a legitimate game release while concealing a much smaller payload, which could be ransomware.

Yet file size alone provides no evidence that an alleged copy contains authentic game assets or executable code from Rockstar.

The alleged code reportedly includes commands designed to weaken Windows Defender and interfere with other security tools on affected computers.

Such behaviour would allow the malware to operate with fewer protections after someone launches the downloaded file on Windows.

The analysis also reportedly found a PowerShell command that adds the system drive to Windows Defender's exclusion list for scanning.

Another command was said to terminate security software, although independent verification of those findings remains limited at this time.

Malware risk rises alongside GTA 6 leak interest

The alleged ISO follows a series of GTA 6 leak claims that have generated substantial interest across gaming communities online.

A leaker known as Cyberleek has reportedly shared gameplay material and the game's fictional Leonidas map, while demanding changes from Rockstar.

Take-Two Interactive has also sought information from Microsoft that could help identify users connected with three Discord servers reportedly linked to leaks.

Those developments have increased attention around unofficial GTA 6 files, creating conditions that criminals can exploit with convincing fake downloads.

This situation also shows why unreleased game files can carry greater security risks than ordinary pirated software already available publicly.

Gamers downloading such files may expose passwords, personal files, browser data, or other information if malicious code gains access without warning.

Rockstar has scheduled the official release of Grand Theft Auto 6 for November 2026, giving players a legitimate alternative to unofficial copies elsewhere.

Until then, claims surrounding leaked builds and supposed ISOs should be treated cautiously because the files cannot be independently verified as genuine.

This case provides a strong warning, but further independent testing would be needed to establish every technical claim about the file itself.

Via Toms Hardware

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 has officially concluded, and the two-hour-long show was jam-packed with a deluge of game announcements and reveals.

From an official release date for the upcoming free-to-play open-world action game Ananta to our very first look at the highly anticipated The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past DLC, it offered a solid set of trailers — especially compared to some previous years.

If you weren't able to catch the show live, there's no need to worry about missing out. Here are the major announcements in the order that they happened to get you fully up to date.

Everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026

• Nodus Fall — a new co-operative action game from Genshin Impact maker Hoyoverse
• Rainbow Six Tactics — new strategy spinoff launching in 2027
• Gears of War: E-Day — our first look at the villain in new cinematic story trailer
• Ananta — the free-to-play open world RPG is launching January 15, 2027
• Silent Hill Townfall got a new story trailer showing some creepy enemies
• Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy got another gameplay trailer ahead of release this week
• Sea of Remnants got a new gameplay trailer showing cute puppets and naval action
• Crimson Desert Enhanced announced with new content
• Tides of Annihilation trailer revealed new story details and gameplay
• Lofsong — announced for console and PC
• Megaman Dual Overdrive launches in 2027, and a crossover Pragmata skin is on the way
• Rayman Legends Retold launches on October 1
• PUBG Ded Net announced with a new gameplay trailer
• Control Resonant got an awesome new gameplay trailer
• The Blood of the Dawnwalker trailer revealed new story details and third-person action gameplay
• Game of Thrones: War for Westeros got a new gameplay trailer showing Daenerys and Jon Snow — launches in early 2027
• Dust Origins — a new isometric action game from Airship Syndicate
• Exodus got a new gameplay trailer showcasing a new character, a talking octopus named Salt — out April 7, 2027
• Warlock revealed as a new D&D game launching in 2027 for PC and console
• 1001 Threads of Mizan revealed — new narrative game
• Silver Palace: House of Greed got a new gameplay trailer
• Monster Hunter Outlanders — mobile spinoff got a new trailer
• Metro 2039 got a cinematic story trailer ahead of its February 2027 release
• Hitman World of Assassination - The Herbalist ft. rap legend Snoop Dogg DLC launching for free on August 27
• Aion 2 got a new trailer
• Afterworld, a new strategy game from Paradox Interactive, announced
• Petit Planet — life sim got an adorable new trailer

A new Mega man skin is coming to Pragmata. (Image credit: Gamescom)

• Mewgenics — comes to consoles on September 8
• Alien Fireteam 2 got a new gameplay trailer
• 1666: Amsterdam got a new trailer ahead of its early access release today
• Showa American Story got a wacky new gameplay trailer, launching on PS5 and PC this year
• Road Kings got a new trailer showing off plenty of trucking action
• Stage Tour — upcoming Guitar-Hero-like music title got a brand new look showcasing setlists and ways to play ahead of December 10 launch
• Crazy Taxi multiplayer reveal trailer
• Turok Origins got a new cinematic trailer
• Gravehounds, furry shooter, got a gameplay trailer ahead of 2026 launch
• Lego Skylines — reveal trailer for bricky city builder game
• Transport Fever 3 got a new trailer, launches September 26
• Exterminauts announced
• Path of Exile full 1.0 release on December 11, will be free-to-play
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake revealed in cinematic trailer showing the reimagined strategy title

Snoop Dogg is officially coming to the world of Hitman in upcoming DLC. (Image credit: Gamescom)

• No Law announced for 2027
• Project Zeta revealed as a new team-based MOBA
• Cinder City announced with a new trailer, available wishlist now
• Ontos announced with a creepy first-person trailer, launching 2027
• Pony Island 2: Panda Circus launches April 27, 2027
• Zoopunk gameplay reveal trailer shown
• There are no Ghosts at the Grand got a new trailer and is launching December 2026
• Roco Kingdom trailer confirmed closed beta test for October 27
• The Defiant announced
• Tarae the Unbound announced with a gameplay trailer
• Like or Die — quirky social media battle royale announced
• Final Fantasy 7 Revelation gets a new cinematic trailer

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 final announcement

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered — announced as free upgrade with loads of new content
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Songs of the Past new cinematic footage shown

What did you think of this year's Opening Night Live show? Let us know in the comments or by voting in the poll below.

I’ve played about an hour of the Gears of War: E-Day campaign, which is shaping up to be a brilliant Xbox 360 throwback. Does E-Day reinvent the wheel? No, at least if the two missions that I’ve played are anything to go by, but everything that makes Gears of War good is present and accounted for.

My hands-on kicked off at the start of Act 2 of the campaign, with the fictional city of Kalona still grappling with the early stages of the mutant Locust invasion. Series hero Marcus Fenix and his rag-tag team of survivors, which includes long-time ally Dominic Santiago along with newcomers Mags Carter and Lucas Reyes, are holed up in the besieged city hall.

There are murmurings of a gigantic creature the group has just taken down — presumably a boss fight at the end of the previous chapter — and you’re quickly drafted into the military effort to take back the city.

Duck and cover

(Image credit: Xbox)

Your first goal is to head to a nearby Thrashball stadium (a familiar in-universe sport that looks like a weird hybrid of football and rugby), which involves traversing the crumbling streets and crossing a giant mechanical bridge. Obviously, things aren’t so simple — with countless Emergence Holes (or E-holes for short) opening and spewing out waves of foes as you make your way over.

Locust enemies are aggressive and, while they don’t pose much threat in isolation, can employ some pretty formidable tactics. The basic rifle-wielding drones will stick to cover like glue, popping up intermittently to spray your team with bullets. They can be hard to keep track of in large numbers, so be careful that those armed with shotguns don’t manage to flank you, as a few close-range hits will shred your health bar in seconds.

Tossed grenades and groups of fast-moving, dog-like Feral Wretches keep the pressure up by forcing you to change cover frequently, preventing fights from devolving into opposing sides taking pot shots at each other across the battlefield.

The steady introduction of new enemy types, from lethal snipers to giant bazooka-equipped brutes, kept the handful of encounters I experienced fresh with some interesting scenarios, like covering another squad located on the other side of the bridge, thrown in there too.

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It’s classic Gears of War action, elevated by meaty gunplay.

Chipping away at enemies from a distance is relatively ineffective and awkward (unless you manage to scoop up one of the powerful Breechshot rifles from a fallen enemy sniper to pop a few heads), but the up-close action is beautifully slick. The Gnasher Shotgun remains an absolute beast, with blowing an enemy in half a wonderfully satisfying reward for pulling off the perfect flank.

Once Fenix gets his hands on a prototype chainsaw bayonet, you know that I was sawing practically anything in my path to pieces in a glorious explosion of gore and viscera.

Free roam

(Image credit: Xbox)

The latter portions of my hands-on had me tackling one of the game’s new ‘open district’ missions, and it’s about what you would expect from the name. You’re dropped into a large chunk of the city and granted the ability to explore it freely with a little map to guide you. It doesn’t feel like a true open world as you’re very much guided towards the next objective, though there are some optional side missions to discover and plenty of collectibles to scoop up.

The mission in my preview was a basic wave survival challenge that had me hunkered down in a car dealership with some non-player character (NPC) soldiers. It’s not the most exciting concept, and I’m hoping some of the side content available in the full game is more adventurous. I didn’t feel like my time was wasted, however, as completing it unlocked some powerful weapon mods.

Modding your guns is a new feature introduced in E-Day (presumably somewhat inspired by the similar upgrade system in strategy spinoff Gears Tactics) that lets you customize your gear by improving stats such as magazine size or fire rate. It can sometimes even change how an entire gun operates, for example, having your pistol fire in a two-bullet burst at the cost of long-range accuracy.

(Image credit: Xbox)

The whole formula feels a bit retro, which is far from a bad thing. You don’t really get decent story-driven shooters these days, and the promise of a roughly 14-hour campaign alongside a suite of multiplayer modes to dive into afterwards is the kind of experience I crave as a palate cleanser between mega live-service releases.

It definitely helps that E-Day looks simply amazing from a technical perspective. Xbox has developed a bit of a reputation for delivering some visually stunning titles this generation (look at the borderline photorealistic fidelity of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2), and E-Day is shaping up to be the best-looking yet. Its art direction blends 1980s retro charm with grand Gothic architecture and a distinctly alien, unfamiliar edge, all presented with ray-traced lighting, geometrically complex models, and flawless texture work.

I found myself poring over every detail, soaking in the signs and posters advertising services, the little notices stuck to the front of shops, the names of all the train lines in a subway station; it’s a lovingly crafted world that truly feels lived in.

If I had one complaint, it’s that it all doesn’t really look much like the world of the first Gears of War. That game is admittedly set more than a decade later, on a different part of the planet, but its cars and buildings in particular seem so much more modern than those of E-Day that it just doesn’t line up in my head. Were companies still making new vehicles and updating their storefronts while hundreds of vicious creatures were pouring out of the ground?

This is nitpicking, of course, and it’s not hard to suspend your disbelief when it’s in the service of some truly beautiful design. I’m excited to see even more when Gears of War: E-Day releases for PC and Xbox Series X and Series S on October 6, 2026.

• Paradox Interactive has revealed the upcoming grand strategy game Afterworld
• It's set in a post-apocalyptic America that players can attempt to rebuild
• It's intended to be the studio's most "easy to learn" and "approachable" title yet

Paradox Interactive has revealed Afterworld, an upcoming post-apocalyptic title that looks like the perfect cross between franchises like Fallout or Mad Max and the company's popular grand strategy games.

Created by Paradox Development Studio, the same team behind Crusader Kings 3 and Hearts of Iron 4, Afterworld takes place in an entirely original vision of post-apocalyptic North America filled with resources to exploit, territory to conquer, and rival groups to trade resources, ally with, or wage war against.

Initially, the game is all about building up some semblance of civilization by creating a home and choosing the laws and ethics of your tribe, with the scale gradually developing until you're going head-to-head with other emerging powers to decide the fate of the continent.

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Different playable factions let you start your story as everything from apocalypse survivors that have just emerged from a hidden vault to fanatical zealots already familiar with the brutal new world.

“This is the first world we’ve gotten to build from scratch in a long time, and the first one we've had the pleasure of destroying before the game starts," explained game director Dan Lind.

"The old world is still out there in fragments, waiting to be found. What comes after it is entirely up to the players.”

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With its "small-scale" starting hours, Afterworld is intended to be the studio's most "easy to learn" and "approachable" title yet — which is good news given the complex systems of games like Hearts of Iron 4 can be incredibly tricky to pick up.

This doesn't mean that surviving is going to be easy, though: the world is full of dangerous old technology and unknown horrors. It's also home to the Ancients, immortal leaders that survived the apocalypse and now dominate the wasteland.

It also sounds like there is going to be a lot of depth, with the developer promising that the experience "as rich and complex" as fans have "come to expect" from its games.

Afterworld doesn't have a release date yet, but can wishlist it on Steam today.

The problem could leak your device’s IP address, even when the paid iCloud Plus feature was enabled.

The artist was a star performer in country music and went on to become one of the genre's most recognizable and universally adored ambassadors to broader popular culture.

(Image credit: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)

The Trump administration claimed to have found 250,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls in four states. But the agency's communications with states since then indicate that data was preliminary.

(Image credit: Jae C. Hong)

There’s been a lot of chatter about new AirPods Pro buds with tiny IR cameras, but don’t sleep on the AirPods 5 and new Beats over-ear headphones.

Scientists have engineered yeast that converts waste plastic and plant biomass into vanilla-flavored, 3D-printable protein cookies.

You can also allow Claude to generate memory topics as you chat.

• Meaco has launched two tower fans, standing 19 and 26 inches tall
• Both are very quiet, with eco and night time modes
• The larger model can be controlled via Meaco's smartphone app

Meaco makes some of the best fans we've tested here at TechRadar, and it's just launched two new tower models to help you keep cool during the next heatwave.

Meaco's line of air circulators proved exceptionally popular earlier this summer, and all of its tabletop and pedestal models are completely sold out — with no more stock expected until October. Both of these new tower fans are available to buy right now though, priced under £100 each.

The taller of the two tower fans stands 26 inches tall and costs £99.99, while the smaller model (intended for use on tables, desks, and kitchen counters) is a compact 19 inches and is £69.99. Both are powerful, quiet, and ideal for sleep thanks to their dedicated night time modes that lower the fan speed and turn off sounds, as well as their glow-in-the-dark remote controls that let you control them from the comfort of your bed.

Sefte 19in Tower Fan: £69.99
This smart-looking tower fan is ideal for keeping you cool at your desk or in the kitchen. Move it to your bedside table in the evening, and its night mode will lower the volume to a whisper-quiet 22dBA so you can sleep soundly, even during a heatwave.View Deal

Sefte Smart 26in Tower Fan: £99.99
The taller of Meaco's two new tower fans offers smartphone compatibility, so you can set cooling schedules to keep pets comfortable, fine-tune the settings without waking your child, or activate the fan before you come home from work.View Deal

Both offer 12 fan speeds, with the smaller model providing a maximum flow rate of 17.27m³ per minute, and the larger fan an impressive 34.41m³ per minute. There are also four oscillation angles (45 degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees and 180 degrees) so you can focus the cooling on just one person, or spread the airflow across a larger area.

The larger fan offers app connectivity, letting you operate it from anywhere using your phone, and set cooling schedules (ideal for pet owners).

Cool comfort

Our reviewers awarded both the Meaco Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator and Meaco Sefte Pro 10in Table Air Circulator four and a half stars out of five, praising their quiet operation, ability to move a large volume of air, and rechargeable batteries that allow you to use them anywhere in your home.

I bought the eight-inch model myself, and it proved invaluable on uncomfortably warm nights, effectively pulling in cooler air from outside when placed near an open window. I have high expectations for the two tower fans, and hope to bring you full reviews of both very soon.

Back in June, Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto 6 — perhaps the most anticipated game of all time — would only be available as a digital download, with physical boxes containing redemption codes rather than discs.

Days later, Sony sent shockwaves through the gaming community by announcing that it would cease production of all PlayStation discs in January 2028. With Xbox on unsteady ground and Nintendo already relying on controversial game-key cards for many of its releases, Sony’s decision felt like the beginning of the end for physical gaming media.

Still, as someone who grew up buying games at brick-and-mortar stores, it's a real shame to just let physical games fade away — especially when physical media has made such a comeback in other industries.

On top of being a lifelong gamer, I’m also a DJ and huge music nerd — so the recent news has made me think about vinyl’s return to popularity in the music industry. With that in mind, I spoke to four experts from across the worlds of gaming and music to find out whether a similar revival could be on the cards for physical games.

Preservation and profit

(Image credit: Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Sony’s decision to stop making physical game discs hasn’t come out of nowhere. Physical game sales have been in decline for years, with Gamespot reporting that 80 per cent of all PlayStation software sales in the latest fiscal year were digital.

John O’Shea is co-CEO and creative director at the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, UK. He tells me that Sony’s decision will have wider impacts on how we preserve and share games going forward: “What we’re hearing from communities is that people are worried that some of the games they care about deeply might become less accessible to them as a consequence of being digital only.

“It’s brilliant [at first] because you can access whatever you want,” he continues, “but what’s tricky is if it gets taken down or delisted from the catalogue.”

(Image credit: Shutterstock / robtek)

O’Shea adds that, in the UK, video games are not archived with as much care as other forms of media: “The wider challenge is that there is not currently an integrated framework for video game conservation. Individual companies should, and rightly do, pursue their own business focus, but where something exists in a digital format, copies can’t easily be made within a legal framework.”

The decline in physical game sales has tracked with a decline in brick-and-mortar gaming stores. Leading US retailer GameStop has closed more than 700 of its domestic stores since early 2025, and the once-mighty UK retailer Game has been reduced to a section in sporting goods store Sports Direct.

Khalil Madim is assistant manager of London independent game store Game On. He tells me that the business is preparing to shift away from selling games altogether: “We might change the entire business to electronic maintenance and parts for PCs. We want to do something that you really need a person for.”

Game On already does most of its trade through its repair service. The store opened in 2009 as a combination game and repair shop, but the latter has taken priority due in part to low margins on new boxed games.

“When it all becomes digital, we might be out of the business,” he continues, “it will impact us so badly. The customers aren’t happy as well – when they buy a game for, say, £10, they can sell it back to us for £5, or they can hand it over to friends or family. But when it’s a digital copy, they can’t do anything.”

The vinyl comeback

(Image credit: Victrola)

Gaming retail finds itself in a similar tricky situation to the vinyl industry at the advent of digital downloads and music streaming.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, LP and EP vinyl sales in the US fell from more than $1.5 billion in 1978 to just $6 million in 1993 – a fall of more than 99 per cent. However, in 2025 LP and EP sales crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in more than 40 years. Vinyl has also surged in popularity in the UK, with the BBC reporting in 2023 that the industry was at its healthiest since 1990.

Tom Durston runs record store Inverted Audio in south London, as an extension of his blog of the same name: “I’ve been buying records since I was 13 years old, and I used to buy video games as well. Back in the 90s you had to buy a game [in person]. You’d have the little box, and the artwork – it’s the same as a record.”

Durston tells me that his store succeeds because of the curation that physical media requires: “I’ve essentially built a platform for my music taste – over the years an international community of readers has trusted me to filter out good music. We’re a record store, but we’re also an editorial platform.”

He adds that physical media requires more investment from producers, which engenders more investment from consumers: “If you have a physical format, you’re introducing quality control – is it worth pressing 500 records, for example? If not, there’s no point.”

The community Durston mentions is about more than where you buy your media. For DJ and artist manager Madison True, physical media gives people something to connect over in a world of fleeting digital interactions.

True’s ‘Vinyl Bitch’ workshops bring beginner female, non-binary, queer and trans DJs together over a pair of turntables: “The thing we try to cultivate is that community, that love, and that discussion. It’s so cool to see people that I know or those that have never met each other become homies by the end of the night, and it’s because they’ve come together over this piece of physical media.”

True continues: “How cool is it that people can come together no matter their sexual identity, or gender, or religion, and come together and talk about how cool something looks and sounds? You wouldn’t get that if it wasn’t physical.”

Could physical games have a comeback?

(Image credit: Analogue)

Before setting out to write this article, I thought that the best hope for gaming was to mirror record labels’ investment in nostalgic special editions – even without a disc, gatefold covers with new artwork and box sets with bonus goodies and collectibles could be enough to make owning a game feel worthwhile.

The issue is that the games industry is more centralised than the music industry. Sony licenses the creation of PlayStation discs and is the sole manufacturer of PlayStation consoles, meaning indie developers can’t just opt out of working within their system.

As such, John O’Shea says that gamers are keen to hold on to anything that gives them a sense of ownership: “In the fan community, there’s a subjectivity of stories that’s really important. Anything that feels like it’s allowing less of a sense of ownership for the game’s players in the communities is going to have an emotional response.

“With video games, it’s the players that bring games to life, and the players want to have a sense of ownership in return.”

I'm not a gamer. It's not that I've never gamed. In fact, I've frenetically mashed game controller buttons on every conceivable console and platform. It's just that I don't think about it when I'm not gaming and, if you ask my adult children, I am terrible at it.

My youngest, now 28, is an avid gamer, and, in fact, a gaming writer. Having written multiple lengthy features for a wide range of gaming publications and played more hours of more games than I've spent trying to draw or learn guitar, they are a true gaming expert.

"It won't matter," they told me as they examined a PS5 game I handed them, curious if Kena: Bridge of Spirits was any good and if they thought it was worth playing. The comment was not related to the game. They were talking about the PlayStation Blackout.

Starting this week, games preservation site DoesItPlay launched an online grassroots campaign, PlayStation Blackout Week (August 23 to 30), to protest Sony's decision to cease all physical game media production in January 2028. As part of the protest, which is under the hashtag # PlayStationBlackout, DoesItPlay called for "No logins, no play sessions, no purchases on any of Sony’s platforms.”

This X post pretty much captures DoesItPlay's core argument:

'One more time: EVERYONE will be negatively impacted if we let Sony erase physical media. Not just physical buyers. Digital will get more expensive and you will have no form of ownership anymore. Physical going away doesn't mean the rest gains something. Quite the opposite!"

Big Boss potential

The potential economic impact of such a protest is massive. After all, PlayStation Network alone has a reported 125 million monthly active users, paying anywhere from $10.99 to $19.99 a month, not to mention whatever they pay for additional games and in-game purchases.

And yet, my own gaming expert was telling me it won't matter (echoing sentiment I've found across social media). Part of the problem, my expert told me, is that the hardcore gamers, the ones who might rally the pro-physical media troops, are all at Gamescon. That's right — a site deeply enmeshed in gaming culture may have chosen the exact wrong week for its protest.

Still, I think there's something larger at work here. Yes, the outcry when Sony announced the change was loud and lusty, but just because some people with a platform are making noises, that doesn't mean everyone is upset or willing to protest the impending change.

Had Sony proposed this change 20 years ago, I could understand the concern. In 2006, Sony's PlayStation network was brand new. Most people bought games on disc, and for many years after, they also bought pre-owned games at GameStop. Discs were part of gaming culture. Since then, though, we've had the rise of the networks, including PSN, Xbox Live (now Xbox Network), and perhaps more important, Steam, which probably did more than any other platform to move games off physical media.

There's another reason my gaming pro might've said the blackout won't matter: Gamers have moved on. A recent report noted the lowest physical game sales since 1995 (there's also a huge gaming console sales slump).

People's game libraries are mostly in the cloud these days.

Getting owned

Regardless, a vocal minority complains that the loss of physical media means the end of game ownership. Except that's not true, either. We don't own the games we buy, no more than we own any of the software we purchase. It's all nothing but licenses to use the games and software.

Here's how Sony describes the agreement between it and its customers when it comes to the games they buy:

“The Software is licensed to you, not sold. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play or use the Software for your private, non-commercial use on the system or device it was intended for.”

It's a license to play, not own.

It's not that I don't understand the frustration or even sadness at the loss of physical media. I have literal shelves of classic software boxes. They're fun to look at, though almost entirely useless, since all the platforms and hardware have moved on. Gamers might be a different breed, holding onto old consoles and the games they bought to play on them for decades, but in my house, that's not the case. Our Nintendo Wii and GameCube are stuffed onto shelves gathering dust. No one has touched them in years.

The most avid gamers, ones who play at near-competitive levels, are most interested in the next big thing. Take, for instance, the upcoming GTA 6 launch. My games expert mentioned that, and how the insane leaks tie to this protest.

Again, they're not interested in the protest, and are instead fixated on the leak and how messed up it is. They've even avoided looking at the GTA 6 clips, so as not to spoil the big game reveal in November.

This plan is broken

Put another way, it seems all the efforts to make Sony relent are having, if not the opposite effect, basically no effect at all. DoesItPlay is talking to a devoted few who still clutch their physical media like water canteens in a desert. The GTA 6 leaker, Cyberleek, who has implored Sony to "do better," is drawing attention mostly to his shenanigans, and I don't think he's inspiring people as much as he's making some think he might be ruining the fun of the most important game launch in 15 years.

There is, in all this, a fundamental truth about physical media: it always has its season, and then that season inevitably passes. Storage media is the perfect analog, because every time we think we have a physical storage medium for the ages, it's supplanted by a new, better, and higher-capacity alternative. I have drawers full of dead media, including Zip Drives, Jaz Drives, 3.5-inch floppies, 5-inch floppies, and more.

Even if Sony was to relent, and continue making physical game media for a few more years — and it won't — the hardware to play it will age out. We'll end up with something better or, more likely, the last physical gaming media holdouts will switch over to the cloud, and that will truly mark the end of physical media.

As my own gaming expert said, #PlayStationBlackout doesn't matter. People's attention is elsewhere, and all true gamers really care about is how quickly the GTA 6 teaser will shift from an exclusive Netflix launch to YouTube. Talking and thinking about anything else is pointless.

Remember that big leak about Microsoft having begun developing a version of Windows that was built around AI, before eventually abandoning the project? Well, it's surfaced again, this time with some interesting new information on just how focused Microsoft was on Copilot, which I think is quite telling — or indeed worrying for those who believe Microsoft might be backtracking on AI somehow.

Windows Latest has gone back over the leak (which was first reported by our sister site Windows Central last month) with a fine-tooth comb, and the tech site flagged up some fresh details that flew under the radar at the time.

To recap briefly, the concept of the OS shown, codenamed 'Project Aion' — with the leaked material dating back to 2024 — was a lightweight web-based version of a Windows operating system that streamed apps to the desktop (as opposed to running them natively on the PC) and put Copilot at the heart of the experience.

This was a horror show of an idea for many, of course, and what Windows Latest starkly highlights here is the extent to which Microsoft was building Aion around AI. In a SharePoint site in the leak, it's described as a "Copilot OS" and a cross-platform system that can span all devices and is generically known as an "Agent OS".

The broader idea, is said to be of an operating system fashioned around "an agent that marshals and organizes all the capabilities of our computers and our clouds on our behalf", and that this is known as an "agent of agents" or the "outside agent".

"The version that Microsoft will build should be known as Copilot OS or the Outside Copilot," the top-level description on the SharePoint site observes. Another term mentioned is a "self-driving OS", which hints at the desire to build an autonomous platform powered by AI here.

Copilot is envisioned as being the "primary way people express, entertain, and educate themselves, and complete tasks across all aspects of their lives".

But Aion is dead, right? Yes… but hold up a minute

(Image credit: Getty Images)

So, what's the big deal here? Windows Latest breathes a sigh of relief that the "odds are already in favor" of this abandoned Aion concept staying dead and buried, arguing that Microsoft is clearly backtracking on AI features these days. And that's very true — there's no denying that Microsoft has reversed course on pushing AI quite so hard as it did in 2025.

But I don't think we can declare that 'Aion is dead' quite so readily. Yes, that exact concept may be buried, but there are nuances here. For me, what Windows Latest has surfaced shows just how serious Microsoft was about exploring the idea of a fully AI-driven desktop. More to the point, an operating system that was effectively an 'agent of agents', or an overseeing AI pulling the strings of a collection of smaller dedicated agents working within the framework of that system.

Here's the thing: Microsoft's efforts to rein in AI within Windows 11 certainly exist (although I wonder about how much of this is for show, frankly). The software giant is currently delivering its best effort to please the disgruntled masses, and a big part of that is fixing Windows 11 — but another hefty piece of the puzzle is to place less emphasis on AI and shoveling more Copilot features into the desktop OS.

But don't be mistaken here: Microsoft still very much sees AI as the future. The company just realizes that it can't be vocal about that right now, especially given that the RAM crisis has forced 8GB laptops back onto the scene, as notebook makers, including Microsoft itself, try to cope with hefty spikes in the cost of manufacturing these devices.

It's a bit embarrassing to be talking about Copilot+ PCs needing 16GB of RAM for AI features when Surface models have had to be reintroduced packing 8GB to get their price down to a vaguely palatable level. Indeed, talk of Copilot+ devices seems to have evaporated this year, as if Microsoft feels this is best brushed under the carpet for now. While a recent leak from Lenovo talked about 'Non-Copilot' laptops with less than 16GB of memory (as flagged by Windows Latest), this kind of spec talk isn't something you'll hear from Microsoft.

Downplaying AI is the tactic for now, but not forever

(Image credit: Microsoft)

For me, it's clear enough that Microsoft is downplaying AI in a strategic manner for the time being, and likely through to next year. The next big thing, however, remains AI agents in Windows, even if Windows 11 isn't going to be transformed into next-gen Windows Copilot (or whatever a more AI-centric desktop platform might be called).

Microsoft is still very busy working on those agents. These entities will begin the shift towards an operating system that's built around AI, with smaller-scale agents executing dedicated tasks on the local PC (with the user's permission, of course, to access stuff). This will be a gradual ramping up of AI usage within Windows 11 (and while folks who hate AI and everything it stands for won't have to go anywhere near these agents, doubtless the idea is that minds will be changed eventually).

I think it's also telling that in Microsoft's recent roundup of the progress it's made in fixing Windows 11, the company talked about future improvements for the OS later this year, and a central aim was to streamline resource usage so the operating system runs better with 8GB of RAM. Interestingly, a few other goals were listed alongside that, and one of them was to make "voice more natural and fluid to interact across the apps you use every day". If you recall, part of the initial sales pitch for AI in Windows 11 was Copilot Voice (and Vision), so I think the importance placed on voice functionality here reflects a broader AI goal that's still in the background.

Ultimately, I think Microsoft is still pushing towards an operating system that's built around AI; it's just that the timeline to reach this end-game objective has been pushed further out. While Project Aion as leaked before was too big a concept, it clearly shows how Microsoft ranks the importance of AI for the future — and I think it's a mistake to think this idea is somehow 'dead' or derailed.

As far as I'm concerned, this remains the destination where Microsoft is heading with next-gen Windows: a lightweight (possibly modular) OS focused on AI, and one that leverages the cloud and streamed apps, too. I think the leaked Project Aion shows us the future as Microsoft wants to realize it, but what it doesn't mention at all is what I think will be another key driver for the software giant: subscription charges.

The golden ticket for Microsoft is to get consumers subscribing to the Windows platform (as businesses do – well, enterprises anyway). AI agents as Windows add-ons with a small monthly (or yearly) fee attached seems a likely way to bring this monetization method into play while making minimal waves (and I recently discussed how there are signs that this is already happening).

That will eventually turn into a grander scheme, and Windows could, over time, end up getting a lot closer to the Aion or Copilot OS concept than some might imagine — although admittedly, that could still be a long way off.

Remember that big leak about Microsoft having begun developing a version of Windows that was built around AI, before eventually abandoning the project? Well, it's surfaced again, this time with some interesting new information on just how focused Microsoft was on Copilot, which I think is quite telling — or indeed worrying for those who believe Microsoft might be backtracking on AI somehow.

Windows Latest has gone back over the leak (which was first reported by our sister site Windows Central last month) with a fine-tooth comb, and the tech site flagged up some fresh details that flew under the radar at the time.

To recap briefly, the concept of the OS shown, codenamed 'Project Aion' — with the leaked material dating back to 2024 — was a lightweight web-based version of a Windows operating system that streamed apps to the desktop (as opposed to running them natively on the PC) and put Copilot at the heart of the experience.

This was a horror show of an idea for many, of course, and what Windows Latest starkly highlights here is the extent to which Microsoft was building Aion around AI. In a SharePoint site in the leak, it's described as a "Copilot OS" and a cross-platform system that can span all devices and is generically known as an "Agent OS".

The broader idea, is said to be of an operating system fashioned around "an agent that marshals and organizes all the capabilities of our computers and our clouds on our behalf", and that this is known as an "agent of agents" or the "outside agent".

"The version that Microsoft will build should be known as Copilot OS or the Outside Copilot," the top-level description on the SharePoint site observes. Another term mentioned is a "self-driving OS", which hints at the desire to build an autonomous platform powered by AI here.

Copilot is envisioned as being the "primary way people express, entertain, and educate themselves, and complete tasks across all aspects of their lives".

But Aion is dead, right? Yes… but hold up a minute

(Image credit: Getty Images)

So, what's the big deal here? Windows Latest breathes a sigh of relief that the "odds are already in favor" of this abandoned Aion concept staying dead and buried, arguing that Microsoft is clearly backtracking on AI features these days. And that's very true — there's no denying that Microsoft has reversed course on pushing AI quite so hard as it did in 2025.

But I don't think we can declare that 'Aion is dead' quite so readily. Yes, that exact concept may be buried, but there are nuances here. For me, what Windows Latest has surfaced shows just how serious Microsoft was about exploring the idea of a fully AI-driven desktop. More to the point, an operating system that was effectively an 'agent of agents', or an overseeing AI pulling the strings of a collection of smaller dedicated agents working within the framework of that system.

Here's the thing: Microsoft's efforts to rein in AI within Windows 11 certainly exist (although I wonder about how much of this is for show, frankly). The software giant is currently delivering its best effort to please the disgruntled masses, and a big part of that is fixing Windows 11 — but another hefty piece of the puzzle is to place less emphasis on AI and shoveling more Copilot features into the desktop OS.

But don't be mistaken here: Microsoft still very much sees AI as the future. The company just realizes that it can't be vocal about that right now, especially given that the RAM crisis has forced 8GB laptops back onto the scene, as notebook makers, including Microsoft itself, try to cope with hefty spikes in the cost of manufacturing these devices.

It's a bit embarrassing to be talking about Copilot+ PCs needing 16GB of RAM for AI features when Surface models have had to be reintroduced packing 8GB to get their price down to a vaguely palatable level. Indeed, talk of Copilot+ devices seems to have evaporated this year, as if Microsoft feels this is best brushed under the carpet for now. While a recent leak from Lenovo talked about 'Non-Copilot' laptops with less than 16GB of memory (as flagged by Windows Latest), this kind of spec talk isn't something you'll hear from Microsoft.

Downplaying AI is the tactic for now, but not forever

(Image credit: Microsoft)

For me, it's clear enough that Microsoft is downplaying AI in a strategic manner for the time being, and likely through to next year. The next big thing, however, remains AI agents in Windows, even if Windows 11 isn't going to be transformed into next-gen Windows Copilot (or whatever a more AI-centric desktop platform might be called).

Microsoft is still very busy working on those agents. These entities will begin the shift towards an operating system that's built around AI, with smaller-scale agents executing dedicated tasks on the local PC (with the user's permission, of course, to access stuff). This will be a gradual ramping up of AI usage within Windows 11 (and while folks who hate AI and everything it stands for won't have to go anywhere near these agents, doubtless the idea is that minds will be changed eventually).

I think it's also telling that in Microsoft's recent roundup of the progress it's made in fixing Windows 11, the company talked about future improvements for the OS later this year, and a central aim was to streamline resource usage so the operating system runs better with 8GB of RAM. Interestingly, a few other goals were listed alongside that, and one of them was to make "voice more natural and fluid to interact across the apps you use every day". If you recall, part of the initial sales pitch for AI in Windows 11 was Copilot Voice (and Vision), so I think the importance placed on voice functionality here reflects a broader AI goal that's still in the background.

Ultimately, I think Microsoft is still pushing towards an operating system that's built around AI; it's just that the timeline to reach this end-game objective has been pushed further out. While Project Aion as leaked before was too big a concept, it clearly shows how Microsoft ranks the importance of AI for the future — and I think it's a mistake to think this idea is somehow 'dead' or derailed.

As far as I'm concerned, this remains the destination where Microsoft is heading with next-gen Windows: a lightweight (possibly modular) OS focused on AI, and one that leverages the cloud and streamed apps, too. I think the leaked Project Aion shows us the future as Microsoft wants to realize it, but what it doesn't mention at all is what I think will be another key driver for the software giant: subscription charges.

The golden ticket for Microsoft is to get consumers subscribing to the Windows platform (as businesses do – well, enterprises anyway). AI agents as Windows add-ons with a small monthly (or yearly) fee attached seems a likely way to bring this monetization method into play while making minimal waves (and I recently discussed how there are signs that this is already happening).

That will eventually turn into a grander scheme, and Windows could, over time, end up getting a lot closer to the Aion or Copilot OS concept than some might imagine — although admittedly, that could still be a long way off.

The measures come after President Trump imposed 50% tariffs on many Canadian goods and threatened more after trade talks broke down on Friday.

(Image credit: Andrej Ivanov)

At next month's September Apple Event, we expect the tech giant to introduce the Apple Watch 12 alongside the new iPhone.

While rumors are sparse about what new additions the Series 12 will have, we've had a year with the Apple Watch Series 11, and we think it's an excellent smartwatch that's packed with insightful features — and it's currently on sale.

Amazon has the Apple Watch 11 on sale for $299 (was $399), which is a $100 discount from its original price and only $20 more than the record low.

• Shop more daily deals at Amazon

The Apple Watch Series 11 was released at last year's September Event and is the thinnest and most durable Apple smartwatch, and is 2x more scratch-resistant than its predecessor. The smartwatch uses 5G connectivity for improved connectivity, while still offering an impressive battery life of up to 24 hours. Health features include hypertension detection and advanced sleep monitoring, which provide a personalized Sleep Score with helpful insights to help you sleep better.

Get the Apple Watch 11 on sale for $299

Watch Series 11, 42mm: was $399 now $299
Ahead of next month's rumored Apple Watch 12 release, Amazon has the Apple Watch 11 on sale for $299 - just $20 more than the record-low price. The Series 11 is Apple's thinnest and most durable smartwatch, with upgrades like 5G connectivity, 24-hour battery life, and new health and sleep insights.View Deal

The Apple Watch 12 is expected to launch at the same price as the Series 11, which is $399. While it's guaranteed to have new features, most people will be satisfied with everything that the Apple Watch 11 has to offer, and it's $100 cheaper.

At next month's September Apple Event, we expect the tech giant to introduce the Apple Watch 12 alongside the new iPhone.

While rumors are sparse about what new additions the Series 12 will have, we've had a year with the Apple Watch Series 11, and we think it's an excellent smartwatch that's packed with insightful features — and it's currently on sale.

Amazon has the Apple Watch 11 on sale for $299 (was $399), which is a $100 discount from its original price and only $20 more than the record low.

• Shop more daily deals at Amazon

The Apple Watch Series 11 was released at last year's September Event and is the thinnest and most durable Apple smartwatch, and is 2x more scratch-resistant than its predecessor. The smartwatch uses 5G connectivity for improved connectivity, while still offering an impressive battery life of up to 24 hours. Health features include hypertension detection and advanced sleep monitoring, which provide a personalized Sleep Score with helpful insights to help you sleep better.

Get the Apple Watch 11 on sale for $299

Watch Series 11, 42mm: was $399 now $299
Ahead of next month's rumored Apple Watch 12 release, Amazon has the Apple Watch 11 on sale for $299 - just $20 more than the record-low price. The Series 11 is Apple's thinnest and most durable smartwatch, with upgrades like 5G connectivity, 24-hour battery life, and new health and sleep insights.View Deal

The Apple Watch 12 is expected to launch at the same price as the Series 11, which is $399. While it's guaranteed to have new features, most people will be satisfied with everything that the Apple Watch 11 has to offer, and it's $100 cheaper.

Is Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls one of the best fighting games of recent times? Yes, I would say so. Given its developer is Arc System Works — creators of Guilty Gear, Blazblue, and the excellent Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising — it was a pretty safe bet that we'd be served a high quality fighting game with mountainous respect and reverence for Marvel and its roster of supers, mutants, and weirdos.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, PC
Release date: August 6, 2026

I love fighting games, but I'm not usually one for tag fighters — often because I find learning more than one character intimidating and time-consuming. So, when Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls was first revealed last year as a 4v4 tag fighter, I'd already resigned myself to thinking: 'well, that's probably not for me.'

Not two, not three, but four? You're having a laugh.

I needn't have worried so much. Arc System Works has designed Fighting Souls such that learning a quartet of fighters inside and out is absolutely not necessary. It's possible to play that way at a higher level, of course. But as your team only has a single health bar, you can rock one character as your main, while relying on the remaining three as assist moves to help you out in a pinch.

It helps, too, that Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has a fantastic onboarding process for new players. The game's story mode is broken into five episodes — each focused on a group of heroes (the Avengers, X-Men, etc.) or the villainous Knights of Doom. Episode chapters are structured to introduce you to fighters and their strengths, or otherwise various important system mechanics. Training tools are similarly great, with a fully-featured training mode, combo trials, and an ingenious 'level-up missions' category that tasks you with creating your own combos to reach a damage threshold.

All good so far, but I unfortunately have to stress that Tokon's immediate future looks perilous. The PC version of the game is currently facing myriad issues, many of which seem to be a direct result of corporate interference.

At the time of writing, Arc System Works is hard at work deploying patches to improve PC matchmaking and performance, but I'm not sure there's a fix for intrusive anti-cheat bloatware and forcing PlayStation Network account creation to access its online features.

Absolutely champion

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Enough doom and gloom for now. I'd rather chat about all the elements that I feel make Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls such a wonderful game for a bit. For me, it started with its single-player story mode.

Titled 'Episodes', Tokon's story is broken into five distinct, well, episodes. Each is centered around one of the game's five main teams. The Fighting Avengers, for example, are your stalwart heroes like Captain America and Black Panther.

The Samurai Outriders are made up of anti-heroes and tricksters like Deadpool and Loki. Meanwhile, the Knights of Doom bring a more villainous flavor, stacked with evildoers like Doctor Doom, Green Goblin, and Carnage.

Best bit

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

I'm in love with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls' eclectic moment-to-moment tag bouts, but a special shoutout has to go to the game's wicked cel-shaded presentation. Marvel icons have been given a distinctly Arc System Works flavor — their appearance, animation, and super move cut-ins are all top-tier stuff.

The premise is simple. An intergalactic fighter called the Champion is holding Earth hostage, and the aforementioned five teams have been selected to participate in a tournament to decide the planet's future. Each episode culminates in a fight with the Champion, and individual chapters are bookended with stunning comic book cutscenes, with each episode even featuring a unique artist and colorist.

This lends all of them a unique sense of identity, and helps to keep things feeling fresh as you progress. Each episode is about an hour long, and all are worth playing through as you'll not only get a feel for each individual character, you will also unlock colors for a bit of added flair for your faves. Oh, and as a bonus, you'll also unlock the Champion as a playable character upon clearing your first episode.

There are a lot of fun character moments, too. Ms. Marvel is often adorably starstruck by the heroes she encounters. The X-Men are flabberghasted that Magneto would team up with an egotistical maniac like Doctor Doom. There's a cute running gag between episodes where everyone gives Loki the side eye, despite a seeming earnestness from the God of Lies to genuinely turn over a new leaf in the search for his brother Thor (who is currently mysteriously absent from the game's playable roster).

Overall, Episodes are a great way to kick off your Tokon journey. It'll help you find characters you enjoy playing, and present a charming story that's well worth playing through just to experience its wonderful artwork and voiced performances.

Assist me

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is remarkably easy to just pick up and play, and I reckon you'll have a blast in local play with friends for casual couch bouts. Movement, special moves, assists, and supers are all straightforward to execute. For specials in particular, you have options for simple or motion inputs with the d-pad. Motion-inputted special moves (such as quarter-circle-forward) do around 10% more damage on average, so you'll have a bit of an edge if you can master weaving them into your gameplan.

The 4v4 setup can be wonderfully chaotic; there's no limit to the number of characters that can appear on-screen, so it's very possible to spam the assist button to throw the kitchen sink at your opponent in a pinch.

Characters you place in your assist slots are highly versatile, and can be individually called upon by pressing the assist button and the corresponding direction on the d-pad. One assist slot is for projectile, for example, while another is a vertical for anti-airs. This is universal across the cast, so you don't have to be precious about which characters you choose if you're only planning on maining one or two.

Elsewhere, you can perform an assist counter while guarding to get your opponent off of you, or even swap to one of your assists to directly control them. There's a ton you can do with assists, and learning to incorporate them in your playstyle is a huge part of the learning process. It sounds like a lot, and it is, and there's much more assists can do, like extending your combos and taking part in a massively damaging last round super. It might take a bit to wrap your head around, but thankfully, the tools are there to help you get to grips with assists and more besides.

Trained to perfection

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has some of the best tutorialization I've ever seen in a fighting game. You of course have a fully fleshed out training mode, where you can freely practice combos and setups against a dummy. There is also a comprehensive tutorial section known as the Battle Guide, that'll walk you through basics like movement all the way to advanced techniques like wakeup options and blocking cross-ups.

Of particular note is Character Lessons, which includes primers on every character playable in the game. These start off with basic move introductions, as well as the properties of each characters' unique button. For example, Storm's Tempest unique lets her control the wind to push herself and her opponent around. Magik's unique has her placing a portal that she can instantly warp to and perform attack out of to surprise the opponent.

Lessons then offer a selection of combos for you to try out for each character, many weaving in assists, special moves, and supers. Finally, the highlight of Character Lessons for me are the Level-Up Missions, which task you with performing a combo to meet a certain amount of damage. These don't hold your hand much, with little guidance outside of telling you which button to start your combo with, or to include a special move at some point. They're great fun to experiment with, and even unlock colors for your characters, too.

Once you feel sufficiently warmed up, I highly recommend jumping into Arena mode for some offline quickplay. This is essentially the game's Arcade mode, in which you play through a series of five matches. You'll get to choose your route as you go through, unlocking some lovely concept art for your efforts.

There's also Survival mode; a 100-match gauntlet with some light roguelite elements. Between matches in Survival mode, you'll get to choose and upgrade Support Souls — cards that offer various benefits like increased movement speed or attack power. Getting through all 100 is no easy task, though, with several significant difficulty spikes on your way to the top. But again, your efforts will be rewarded with unique character colors if you make it to the end.

True believers

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

If you're familiar with Arc System Works' back catalog, it should come as no surprise that Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a mind-bendingly gorgeous fighting game.

The developer is the master of modern cel-shading, and the roster of Marvel icons look even sharper here than characters do in Guilty Gear Strive and Dragonball FighterZ. Not that those games are slouches at all in the visual department, but Tokon by comparison looks impressively pristine at all times.

There aren't a ton of characters or stages at launch (I personally think 21 characters is a bit slim given the 4v4 setup), but when they look and animate as well as they do, I can forgive the base roster being as svelte as it is by tag fighter standards.

Every character is brimming with personality and charming little touches. Doom's cartoonish aptitude for evil is perfectly captured in his intimidating slow walk and thousand-yard stare. Ms. Marvel's attacks feel peppy, snappy, and excitable. And Deadpool? Well, almost every move in his arsenal is a loving reference to other iconic fighting games, and there are some impressively deep cuts therein.

The game's background stages are a real draw, too. The New York City stage is teeming with detail and references to the wider world of Marvel. The X-Mansion tends to populate the further a match progresses, with iconic X-Men like Psylocke, Colossus, and Gambit appearing in the background. If you're a Marvel head, you'll likely love the amount of respect and admiration Arc System Works has for the brand.

Pride before a fall

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is another slam-dunk for Arc System Works, then. With it and the recent Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics compilation, I'm ecstatic to see Marvel active again in the realm of fighting games. But every story has its villain, and for Tokon, it's not the Champion. It's Sony.

I hate to admit that I'm concerned for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls' future. On PC, the game's anti-cheat DRM worsens performance. Furthermore, Linux and mod support are non-starters, and because online play requires a PlayStation Network account, countries where the service isn't supported (there are well over 100 of them) can't access network features at all. Throw in lopsided netcode that discourages crossplay between PS5 and PC, and you have a recipe for an exceptionally messy launch month largely thanks to publisher meddling.

For these reasons, I can't give Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls a glowing recommendation, as much as I would like to. At least if you were planning to pick up the game on PC. I want Tokon to have a long, bright future, but I worry that too much damage has already been done. Now, the state of the game has improved since launch in regards to performance and matchmaking quality, thanks to a small handful of fixes deployed by Arc System Works.

I just can't help but feel anxious about this rocky PC launch. Especially with the recent news that Riot Games is shuttering development on its League of Legends fighting game, 2XKO. It shows that huge companies absolutely aren't afraid to completely tear down a good thing if it isn't generating satisfactory revenue or player count. If folks walk away from Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls because of the issues it's facing on PC, then what's stopping Sony from doing the same?

I hope I'm just overthinking it. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is one of the most fun and unique fighting games I've played in some time, and I hope its candle won't be snuffed out before it truly gets the chance to shine its brightest.

Should I play Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls?Play it if...

You love the Marvel tag fighters of old
Living up to Marvel vs. Capcom's legacy is no easy task. And while Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is doing its own thing with its own roster, it's nonetheless continued proof that Marvel and tag fighters are a winning combination.

You're completely new to fighting games
Learning fighting games can be daunting, and Tokon certainly has a high skill ceiling with its tagging and various system mechanics. But elements like auto combos, easy special move inputs, and a recognizable roster of Marvel icons make this game incredibly newcomer-friendly.

Don't play it if...

You want the PC version
This hopefully won't be a dealbreaker for long especially with the impressive pace Arc System Works is deploying fixes. But PC performance and matchmaking issues are still ongoing, and it may be worth waiting a few months for the Steam version to catch up with its PS5 counterpart in overall quality.

Accessibility features

At launch, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has a small handful of accessibility features, largely utilizing text-to-speech options.

You can enable text-to-speech and adjust its volume and speed. You can also choose to enable or disable subtitles that display during battle entrances and conclusions.

How I reviewed Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls

I played Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls on PC for approximately 15 hours for this review. I completed the episodic story mode in its entirety, cleared most Arcade mode routes, and put a good chunk of hours into training mode, character lesson guides, and casual online play.

I tested the game with the GameSir G7 Pro controller, as well as the leverless Razer Kitsune. I also hooked up my RIG 900 Max HS gaming headset to experience the game's excellent audio and wonderfully upbeat soundtrack.

First reviewed August 2026

Is Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls one of the best fighting games of recent times? Yes, I would say so. Given its developer is Arc System Works — creators of Guilty Gear, Blazblue, and the excellent Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising — it was a pretty safe bet that we'd be served a high quality fighting game with mountainous respect and reverence for Marvel and its roster of supers, mutants, and weirdos.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, PC
Release date: August 6, 2026

I love fighting games, but I'm not usually one for tag fighters — often because I find learning more than one character intimidating and time-consuming. So, when Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls was first revealed last year as a 4v4 tag fighter, I'd already resigned myself to thinking: 'well, that's probably not for me.'

Not two, not three, but four? You're having a laugh.

I needn't have worried so much. Arc System Works has designed Fighting Souls such that learning a quartet of fighters inside and out is absolutely not necessary. It's possible to play that way at a higher level, of course. But as your team only has a single health bar, you can rock one character as your main, while relying on the remaining three as assist moves to help you out in a pinch.

It helps, too, that Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has a fantastic onboarding process for new players. The game's story mode is broken into five episodes — each focused on a group of heroes (the Avengers, X-Men, etc.) or the villainous Knights of Doom. Episode chapters are structured to introduce you to fighters and their strengths, or otherwise various important system mechanics. Training tools are similarly great, with a fully-featured training mode, combo trials, and an ingenious 'level-up missions' category that tasks you with creating your own combos to reach a damage threshold.

All good so far, but I unfortunately have to stress that Tokon's immediate future looks perilous. The PC version of the game is currently facing myriad issues, many of which seem to be a direct result of corporate interference.

At the time of writing, Arc System Works is hard at work deploying patches to improve PC matchmaking and performance, but I'm not sure there's a fix for intrusive anti-cheat bloatware and forcing PlayStation Network account creation to access its online features.

Absolutely champion

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Enough doom and gloom for now. I'd rather chat about all the elements that I feel make Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls such a wonderful game for a bit. For me, it started with its single-player story mode.

Titled 'Episodes', Tokon's story is broken into five distinct, well, episodes. Each is centered around one of the game's five main teams. The Fighting Avengers, for example, are your stalwart heroes like Captain America and Black Panther.

The Samurai Outriders are made up of anti-heroes and tricksters like Deadpool and Loki. Meanwhile, the Knights of Doom bring a more villainous flavor, stacked with evildoers like Doctor Doom, Green Goblin, and Carnage.

Best bit

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

I'm in love with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls' eclectic moment-to-moment tag bouts, but a special shoutout has to go to the game's wicked cel-shaded presentation. Marvel icons have been given a distinctly Arc System Works flavor — their appearance, animation, and super move cut-ins are all top-tier stuff.

The premise is simple. An intergalactic fighter called the Champion is holding Earth hostage, and the aforementioned five teams have been selected to participate in a tournament to decide the planet's future. Each episode culminates in a fight with the Champion, and individual chapters are bookended with stunning comic book cutscenes, with each episode even featuring a unique artist and colorist.

This lends all of them a unique sense of identity, and helps to keep things feeling fresh as you progress. Each episode is about an hour long, and all are worth playing through as you'll not only get a feel for each individual character, you will also unlock colors for a bit of added flair for your faves. Oh, and as a bonus, you'll also unlock the Champion as a playable character upon clearing your first episode.

There are a lot of fun character moments, too. Ms. Marvel is often adorably starstruck by the heroes she encounters. The X-Men are flabberghasted that Magneto would team up with an egotistical maniac like Doctor Doom. There's a cute running gag between episodes where everyone gives Loki the side eye, despite a seeming earnestness from the God of Lies to genuinely turn over a new leaf in the search for his brother Thor (who is currently mysteriously absent from the game's playable roster).

Overall, Episodes are a great way to kick off your Tokon journey. It'll help you find characters you enjoy playing, and present a charming story that's well worth playing through just to experience its wonderful artwork and voiced performances.

Assist me

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is remarkably easy to just pick up and play, and I reckon you'll have a blast in local play with friends for casual couch bouts. Movement, special moves, assists, and supers are all straightforward to execute. For specials in particular, you have options for simple or motion inputs with the d-pad. Motion-inputted special moves (such as quarter-circle-forward) do around 10% more damage on average, so you'll have a bit of an edge if you can master weaving them into your gameplan.

The 4v4 setup can be wonderfully chaotic; there's no limit to the number of characters that can appear on-screen, so it's very possible to spam the assist button to throw the kitchen sink at your opponent in a pinch.

Characters you place in your assist slots are highly versatile, and can be individually called upon by pressing the assist button and the corresponding direction on the d-pad. One assist slot is for projectile, for example, while another is a vertical for anti-airs. This is universal across the cast, so you don't have to be precious about which characters you choose if you're only planning on maining one or two.

Elsewhere, you can perform an assist counter while guarding to get your opponent off of you, or even swap to one of your assists to directly control them. There's a ton you can do with assists, and learning to incorporate them in your playstyle is a huge part of the learning process. It sounds like a lot, and it is, and there's much more assists can do, like extending your combos and taking part in a massively damaging last round super. It might take a bit to wrap your head around, but thankfully, the tools are there to help you get to grips with assists and more besides.

Trained to perfection

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has some of the best tutorialization I've ever seen in a fighting game. You of course have a fully fleshed out training mode, where you can freely practice combos and setups against a dummy. There is also a comprehensive tutorial section known as the Battle Guide, that'll walk you through basics like movement all the way to advanced techniques like wakeup options and blocking cross-ups.

Of particular note is Character Lessons, which includes primers on every character playable in the game. These start off with basic move introductions, as well as the properties of each characters' unique button. For example, Storm's Tempest unique lets her control the wind to push herself and her opponent around. Magik's unique has her placing a portal that she can instantly warp to and perform attack out of to surprise the opponent.

Lessons then offer a selection of combos for you to try out for each character, many weaving in assists, special moves, and supers. Finally, the highlight of Character Lessons for me are the Level-Up Missions, which task you with performing a combo to meet a certain amount of damage. These don't hold your hand much, with little guidance outside of telling you which button to start your combo with, or to include a special move at some point. They're great fun to experiment with, and even unlock colors for your characters, too.

Once you feel sufficiently warmed up, I highly recommend jumping into Arena mode for some offline quickplay. This is essentially the game's Arcade mode, in which you play through a series of five matches. You'll get to choose your route as you go through, unlocking some lovely concept art for your efforts.

There's also Survival mode; a 100-match gauntlet with some light roguelite elements. Between matches in Survival mode, you'll get to choose and upgrade Support Souls — cards that offer various benefits like increased movement speed or attack power. Getting through all 100 is no easy task, though, with several significant difficulty spikes on your way to the top. But again, your efforts will be rewarded with unique character colors if you make it to the end.

True believers

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

If you're familiar with Arc System Works' back catalog, it should come as no surprise that Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a mind-bendingly gorgeous fighting game.

The developer is the master of modern cel-shading, and the roster of Marvel icons look even sharper here than characters do in Guilty Gear Strive and Dragonball FighterZ. Not that those games are slouches at all in the visual department, but Tokon by comparison looks impressively pristine at all times.

There aren't a ton of characters or stages at launch (I personally think 21 characters is a bit slim given the 4v4 setup), but when they look and animate as well as they do, I can forgive the base roster being as svelte as it is by tag fighter standards.

Every character is brimming with personality and charming little touches. Doom's cartoonish aptitude for evil is perfectly captured in his intimidating slow walk and thousand-yard stare. Ms. Marvel's attacks feel peppy, snappy, and excitable. And Deadpool? Well, almost every move in his arsenal is a loving reference to other iconic fighting games, and there are some impressively deep cuts therein.

The game's background stages are a real draw, too. The New York City stage is teeming with detail and references to the wider world of Marvel. The X-Mansion tends to populate the further a match progresses, with iconic X-Men like Psylocke, Colossus, and Gambit appearing in the background. If you're a Marvel head, you'll likely love the amount of respect and admiration Arc System Works has for the brand.

Pride before a fall

(Image credit: Sony / Marvel)

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is another slam-dunk for Arc System Works, then. With it and the recent Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics compilation, I'm ecstatic to see Marvel active again in the realm of fighting games. But every story has its villain, and for Tokon, it's not the Champion. It's Sony.

I hate to admit that I'm concerned for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls' future. On PC, the game's anti-cheat DRM worsens performance. Furthermore, Linux and mod support are non-starters, and because online play requires a PlayStation Network account, countries where the service isn't supported (there are well over 100 of them) can't access network features at all. Throw in lopsided netcode that discourages crossplay between PS5 and PC, and you have a recipe for an exceptionally messy launch month largely thanks to publisher meddling.

For these reasons, I can't give Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls a glowing recommendation, as much as I would like to. At least if you were planning to pick up the game on PC. I want Tokon to have a long, bright future, but I worry that too much damage has already been done. Now, the state of the game has improved since launch in regards to performance and matchmaking quality, thanks to a small handful of fixes deployed by Arc System Works.

I just can't help but feel anxious about this rocky PC launch. Especially with the recent news that Riot Games is shuttering development on its League of Legends fighting game, 2XKO. It shows that huge companies absolutely aren't afraid to completely tear down a good thing if it isn't generating satisfactory revenue or player count. If folks walk away from Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls because of the issues it's facing on PC, then what's stopping Sony from doing the same?

I hope I'm just overthinking it. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is one of the most fun and unique fighting games I've played in some time, and I hope its candle won't be snuffed out before it truly gets the chance to shine its brightest.

Should I play Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls?Play it if...

You love the Marvel tag fighters of old
Living up to Marvel vs. Capcom's legacy is no easy task. And while Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is doing its own thing with its own roster, it's nonetheless continued proof that Marvel and tag fighters are a winning combination.

You're completely new to fighting games
Learning fighting games can be daunting, and Tokon certainly has a high skill ceiling with its tagging and various system mechanics. But elements like auto combos, easy special move inputs, and a recognizable roster of Marvel icons make this game incredibly newcomer-friendly.

Don't play it if...

You want the PC version
This hopefully won't be a dealbreaker for long especially with the impressive pace Arc System Works is deploying fixes. But PC performance and matchmaking issues are still ongoing, and it may be worth waiting a few months for the Steam version to catch up with its PS5 counterpart in overall quality.

Accessibility features

At launch, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has a small handful of accessibility features, largely utilizing text-to-speech options.

You can enable text-to-speech and adjust its volume and speed. You can also choose to enable or disable subtitles that display during battle entrances and conclusions.

How I reviewed Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls

I played Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls on PC for approximately 15 hours for this review. I completed the episodic story mode in its entirety, cleared most Arcade mode routes, and put a good chunk of hours into training mode, character lesson guides, and casual online play.

I tested the game with the GameSir G7 Pro controller, as well as the leverless Razer Kitsune. I also hooked up my RIG 900 Max HS gaming headset to experience the game's excellent audio and wonderfully upbeat soundtrack.

First reviewed August 2026