On January 19, TikTok, the popular social media platform, temporarily halted its operations in the United States, causing an unexpected ripple effect on Marvel Snap, a renowned card game developed by Second Dinner Studios and published by Nuverse, a ByteDance subsidiary. This sudden blockage left Marvel Snap unavailable for 24 hours, and although the game is now back online, full access has yet to be restored, with in-game purchases still disabled.
In response to this disruption, the developers are considering a change in publishers and plan to shift some services to internal resources to prevent future incidents. This decision was announced in an official statement on Platform X, driven by the political risks associated with TikTok's operations. The social media giant was granted a 90-day extension to divest 50% of its business to a local owner, and failure to meet this deadline could lead to further blockages affecting TikTok and related projects like Marvel Snap.
Second Dinner Studios has promised to provide more updates as they work towards a full recovery. Despite the game's return, many players are still facing authorization issues. Interestingly, PC users were able to access the game on Steam throughout the ordeal. The developers at Second Dinner expressed their surprise at the incident and are diligently working to restore full functionality. According to an official statement on Platform X:
“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 continued to spend money on in-game purchases, unaware of the impending lockout.
