After a brief disruption in services, Marvel Snap is once again playable in the United States. The popular collectible card-battling game was temporarily inaccessible for those in the U.S. after the country implemented a ban on TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech conglomerate ByteDance.
The seemingly unintended consequence of the ban on TikTok was that any game or app owned by ByteDance was also shut down. This included Marvel Snap, which is published by Nuverse, a subsidiary of ByteDance.
Developer Second Dinner — which is located in California — explained that the outage was even a surprise to them and that they were given no warning that the game would be affected.
Ultimately, services to TikTok were restored, at least temporarily. And seemingly, so were any games or apps owned by ByteDance.
We're not quite sure how this whole TikTok ordeal will play out in the United States, which is calling for ByteDance to divest or face a permanent ban. However, Second Dinner is taking no chances.
In an update on social media, the developer confirmed they are working to bring more services in-house and are looking to partner with a new publisher. "This is the start of a new era for Marvel Snap," the developer said.
Released in 2022, Marvel Snap is one of the most popular digital card-battling games in the market. The fast-paced and relatively simplistic nature of matches has made it appealing to many, coupled with the fact that it features one of the world's biggest brands, Marvel.
In the game, players assemble playable decks comprised of iconic Marvel characters and locations. From there, they compete with others in matches that last just a few minutes.
With services now restored, Marvel Snap is currently available to play for everyone. It seems there are still some hiccups with the in-game store, but it's at least in a playable state once again.