Marvel Snap Returns: Developers Seek New Publisher

On January 19, TikTok, a popular social media platform, temporarily halted its operations in the United States, causing an unexpected ripple effect on Marvel Snap, a renowned card game developed by Second Dinner Studios and published by Nuverse, a ByteDance subsidiary. As a result, Marvel Snap was unavailable for 24 hours, leaving fans of the game in limbo.

The game has since been restored, but players are still facing some limitations; in-game purchases remain unavailable. In response to this unexpected outage, the developers at Second Dinner Studios are considering a change in publishers and are planning to shift some services to internal resources. This strategic move aims to prevent similar disruptions in the future, according to an official statement released on Platform X.

The root cause of this disruption is attributed to political risks. TikTok has been granted a 90-day extension to divest 50% of its business to a local owner. If this agreement falls through, there's a risk that TikTok and its related projects, including Marvel Snap, could face reblocking.

Second Dinner Studios has promised to provide more updates as they work towards a full recovery. While many players reported authorization issues, PC users were still able to access the game via Steam. The developers expressed their surprise at the incident and are committed to getting the game fully operational again. An official statement on Platform X reassures players:

"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 aspects of this situation was the lack of prior warning to players. Many were unaware of the potential lockout and continued to make in-game purchases, not knowing they would soon be unable to access their accounts.