When TikTok was briefly blocked within the US on the weekend, one of many sudden knock-on results was the simultaneous blocking of Marvel Snap, a CCG starring the same old gaggle of buoyant American superheroes. TikTok entry was reinstated after 12 hours, however the recreation remained offline for an additional 12 hours.
Now it is again (on PC not less than: it is nonetheless absent on smartphones at time of writing) which is sweet information for its California-based studio Second Dinner, and followers of card video games and superheroes usually. But it surely will not be excellent news for Marvel Snap writer Nuverse, which is a subsidiary of TikTok proprietor ByteDance and, consequently, clearly the supply of this card recreation getting caught up within the mess.
In its announcement on X, Second Dinner was unusually straight-to-the-point: “MARVEL SNAP is again on-line within the U.S. However to verify this NEVER occurs once more, we’re working to carry extra companies in-house and accomplice with a brand new writer,” the official Second Dinner account tweeted.
“That is the beginning of a brand new period for MARVEL SNAP. We all know this most likely leaves you with much more questions than solutions. We respect your endurance, however within the meantime get pleasure from taking part in MARVEL SNAP.”
Possibly it is simply me, however it’s very uncommon for a studio to sign its intent to go away a writer when it’s nonetheless—given the wording—in a working relationship with that writer. These are uncommon circumstances, although, and Nuverse and ByteDance have not been let off the hook but: US President Donald Trump introduced on Reality Social yesterday that TikTok’s US return is merely an extension of “the time period earlier than the regulation’s prohibitions take impact”.
Throughout this extension, President Trump is searching for a “50% possession place” for the US in TikTok. If a deal is not minimize—and we presently do not know what sort of deal this could possibly be, whether or not between a non-public US firm and ByteDance, or the US authorities itself—there’s each likelihood TikTok might disappear once more, and thus, the rest that falls beneath the Nuverse mantle.
Marvel Snap is playable, however on the time of writing, in-app purchases “stay unavailable”, although these are anticipated to return shortly.