Marvel Snap Returns: Developers Seek New Publisher

On January 19, TikTok, the popular social media platform, temporarily halted its operations in the United States, which had a surprising ripple effect on Marvel Snap. This card game, developed by Second Dinner Studios and released by Nuverse—a division of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company—found itself unexpectedly blocked. After a 24-hour period of unavailability, Marvel Snap is back online, but the developers are still working to restore full functionality, with in-game purchases currently unavailable.

In response to this incident, the developers at Second Dinner Studios are considering a change of publishers and planning to transition some services to internal resources. This decision stems from the political risks associated with ByteDance's ownership. TikTok has been granted a 90-day extension to sell 50% of its business to a local owner. If this agreement fails, both TikTok and related projects like Marvel Snap could face reblocking.

Second Dinner Studios has promised to provide further updates. Meanwhile, despite many players experiencing authorization issues, the game remains accessible to PC users via Steam. The developers expressed their surprise at the incident and are diligently working to fully restore the game. An official statement from Platform X reassures players, stating:

“Marvel Snap is here to stay. We're working hard to restore the game as quickly as possible, and we'll keep players informed of our progress”.

One of the most frustrating elements of this situation was the lack of prior warning to players. Many continued to make in-game purchases, unaware of the potential for a lockout.