Marvel Snap down, caught in the TikTok ban

All focus was on TikTok in the last week, as the company prepared to — and eventually did — shut down its video-sharing app to adhere to a national security law explicitly aimed at the ByteDance-owned company. But the the U.S. action has resulted in a broader ripple effect. Marvel Snap players discovered on Saturday night that the card battle game had also gone dark, and had been removed from Apple and Google app stores at the same time as TikTok. The game remains offline, along with several other apps with connections to ByteDance.

Second Dinner, the U.S.-based developer of Marvel Snap, said in a statement that it was a “surprise” that the game had gotten caught in the net of the TikTok shutdown. But since the game is published by Nuverse, a subsidiary of ByteDance, the app was held to the same complicated standards as TikTok. Second Dinner was quick to promise that Marvel Snap “isn’t going anywhere.” Late Sunday night, the studio said it is actively working to restore the app and hopes to do so “within 24 hours.”

The move also came as a surprise to Marvel Snap players, who had received no advance warning that the game would shut down in compliance with the new law. But at least they made some good posts about it.

According to users who are also hitting a wall and unable to access or download games, the TikTok ban has affected other Nuverse titles like Land of Empires: Immortal, Land of Empires: Dice Hero, and Mission EVO. Games from the ByteDance-owned Moonton were also affected by the law, including Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Mobile Legends: Adventure, Watcher of Realms, and One Punch Man: The Strongest.

Update (Jan. 20): Second Dinner says it is actively working to restore Marvel Snap for U.S.-based players. The studio also says it is “committed to to ensuring that all players are compensated for their lost time” when it comes to time-based content and rewards.