On January 19th, a temporary US shutdown of TikTok unexpectedly impacted Marvel Snap, the popular card game published by Nuverse (a ByteDance subsidiary). This disruption, lasting approximately 24 hours, resulted in the game's temporary unavailability. While Marvel Snap is now back online, in-app purchases remain disabled, and full functionality is still being restored.
This incident, stemming from the ongoing political scrutiny surrounding TikTok's US operations, has prompted Second Dinner Studios to explore alternative publishing options and internalize certain services. TikTok's 90-day extension to sell a 50% stake to a US entity presents a significant risk of future disruptions for the game. The failure to finalize this agreement could lead to further blockages.
Second Dinner has pledged to provide further updates. While many players experienced authorization problems, Steam users retained access. The developers expressed surprise at the sudden outage and are actively working to resolve the situation, assuring players via Platform X that "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." The lack of prior warning caused considerable frustration, particularly for those who continued making in-game purchases before the shutdown.
