US Marvel Snap Fans Disappointed as Card Game Faces Unexpected Ban Alongside TikTok

Today marked a significant change in the digital landscape of the U.S., as TikTok faced a long-threatened ban. Interestingly, it’s not just the popular social media app that’s impacted—Marvel Snap, a widely-played online card game, also fell victim to this ruling.

If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you probably know that TikTok has been teetering on the edge of a US ban unless it changed ownership. With no sale in sight, the switch was flipped today, effectively shutting it down. While many debate the sensibility of this decision, especially when other social platforms like Facebook aren’t facing similar scrutiny, it’s a done deal for now. Yet, an unforeseen consequence of this ban is that Marvel Snap has also been pulled from the shelves. At first glance, this seems rather strange. However, the connection lies in the shared ownership of their publisher, Nuverse, by ByteDance—the same parent company as TikTok.

The team at Second Dinner, the developers behind Marvel Snap, expressed their surprise on Twitter. They stated, “Unfortunately, Marvel Snap is temporarily unavailable in US app stores and is unavailable to play in the US. In a surprise to Second Dinner and our publisher Nuverse, Marvel Snap was affected by the takedown of TikTok late on Saturday, January 18th. Marvel Snap isn’t going anywhere. We’re actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will update you once we have more to share.”

When you try to launch Marvel Snap, you’ll encounter a message indicating the game is currently unavailable, with assurances that they’re actively working towards a resolution. How both Second Dinner and Nuverse didn’t foresee being caught in TikTok’s ban is anyone’s guess. For now, dedicated players will just have to wait patiently for the game’s return.