On January 19th, TikTok's temporary US shutdown unexpectedly impacted Marvel Snap, the popular card game published by Nuverse (a ByteDance subsidiary). This disruption resulted in a 24-hour outage before the game's partial restoration. While Marvel Snap is back online, in-app purchases remain unavailable.
The developers, Second Dinner Studios, cited political risks as the catalyst for this situation. TikTok's 90-day extension to sell a 50% stake to a US entity leaves Marvel Snap vulnerable to future blockades should the deal fail. To mitigate future risks, Second Dinner is exploring a publisher change and internalizing some services, according to an official Platform X statement.
The abrupt shutdown caused significant player frustration, particularly due to the lack of prior warning. Many users continued making in-game purchases unaware of the impending lockout. While PC users could still access the game via Steam, widespread authorization issues plagued other platforms.
Second Dinner assures players that Marvel Snap is not going anywhere, promising a swift restoration of full functionality and ongoing updates via Platform X. They are currently investigating the incident and working diligently to resolve the issues. Further details are expected soon.