After being reinstated in the United States, Marvel Snap wants a new publisher

By Patrick Hearn Published January 21, 2025

After being caught in the crossfire once, Marvel Snap developer Second Dinner is seeking a new publisher. On Saturday, January 19, TikTok users discovered the app was no longer accessible. At the same time, thousands of Marvel Snap players were locked out of their games. The popular app was published by ByteDance’s game-publishing studio Nuverse, and even though ByteDance has since divested itself of the studio, the link was still strong enough to be caught up in wave of app bans.

The removal of Marvel Snap caught its fanbase and developers by surprise, and the team issued a statement letting everyone know that it wasn’t intended, and that the game wasn’t going anywhere.

Marvel Snap returned to service on January 20, and the studio shared a post announcing more services and a new publisher, although no name was given. The phrasing of the post makes it sound as though the decision is still in its early stages.

Unfortunately, MARVEL SNAP is temporarily unavailable in U.S. app stores and is unavailable to play in the U.S.

This outage is a surprise to us and wasn't planned. MARVEL SNAP isn’t going anywhere.

We’re actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will…

— Second Dinner (@seconddinner) January 19, 2025

At the time of writing, Marvel Snap is still not available for download from the iOS App Store. Many players uninstalled the app during its downtime, thinking the closure was a glitch. Second Dinner has stated that its working on getting the game back in the App Store as soon as possible.

If you’re an everyday player, don’t worry. The team also said, “During this downtime, we realize that many of you are missing out on time-based content, rewards, and Missions. Second Dinner is committed to ensuring tall players are compensated for lost time.”

TikTok has only been granted a 75-day extension. If a new buyer isn’t found during that time, the ban will go through once again — and presumably, Marvel Snap could be locked once more. Second Dinner believes that finding a publisher with no ties to TikTok could ensure the game’s continuation even if another TikTok ban happens.