OH SNAP! Marvel's popular card game banned in US due to ongoing TikTok battle
By Brian Allen
Many players, including myself, were shocked to find out that Marvel Snap is no longer accessible in the United States. It is published by Nuverse, which has connections to TikTok parent company ByteDance. The United States government and ByteDance are currently battling over whether TikTok poses a security risk because of the data it collects from users.
Thus Marvel Snap shut down at the same time TikTok did. It is no longer available in the App Store or on Google Play. This was a surprise not just to players, but developer Second Dinner. It announced on its X account that it and publisher Nuverse were both blindsided by the move. It is working to restore the game's functionality and will offer further updates as the situation changes.
Players attempting to log into the popular card battler in the US receive this message:
"Sorry, Marvel Snap isn’t available right now. A law banning Marvel Snap has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use Marvel Snap for now. Rest assured, we’re working to restore our service in the U.S. Please stay tuned!"
This sudden bump in the road may be the biggest challenge Second Dinner's runaway hit has faced. Afer launching in October 2022, it generated more than $100 million in revenue in less than a year. It is currently running a cross-promotion with NetEase Games' hit hero shooter Marvel Rivals, with more collaborations teased for the future. Those prospects just hit a huge snag.
Other ByteDance offerings that were affected include lifestyle social app Lemon8 and video editor Capcut. Unfortunately, many TikTok users have been trying out Lemon8, hoping it might somehow dodge the shutdown.