On January 19, TikTok, the popular social media platform, temporarily halted its operations in the United States, which unexpectedly affected Marvel Snap, a renowned card game developed by Second Dinner Studios and published by Nuverse, a ByteDance subsidiary. ByteDance is also the parent company of TikTok. This unexpected shutdown left Marvel Snap unavailable for 24 hours, and even after the game came back online, full access has yet to be restored, with in-game purchases still not possible.
In response to this disruption, Second Dinner Studios is considering a change of publishers and plans to shift some services to internal resources to prevent future incidents. This decision comes as a result of political risks, as TikTok has been granted a 90-day extension to sell 50% of its business to a local owner. Should this agreement fail, TikTok and its related projects, including Marvel Snap, could face further blocks.
Second Dinner Studios has promised to provide more updates in the future. Despite the turmoil, PC users could still access the game via Steam. The developers at Second Dinner were taken aback by the incident and are diligently working to fully restore the game. An official statement on Platform X reassures players, saying, “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.”
One of the most frustrating aspects of this situation was the lack of prior warning to players. Many were unaware of the potential lockout and continued to make in-game purchases, unaware of the impending disruption.
