A recent U.S. law targeting TikTok is causing collateral damage, taking down other apps tied to ByteDance, including the widely popular card game Marvel Snap. Without prior notice, the game abruptly became inaccessible on Saturday night, leaving players blindsided by its ByteDance connection.
Marvel Snap, a card-battler based on the Marvel universe, is developed by California-based Second Dinner but published by Nuverse, a ByteDance subsidiary. This affiliation made it subject to the same shutdown order impacting TikTok.
Second Dinner addressed the issue on X, stating, “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.”
As of January 19, 2025, Marvel Snap vanished from the App Store and Google Play. While still available on Steam for PC players, reports indicate many were logged out and unable to sign back in.
Players attempting to access the game now encounter an in-game message that reads:
Sorry, Marvel Snap isn’t available right now
A law banning Marvel Snap has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use Marvel Snap for now. Rest assured, we’re working to restore our service in the U.S. Please stay tuned!
The sudden removal has sparked confusion, as players were given little to no warning. Many gamers, unaware of the ByteDance link, continued spending money on in-game purchases, expecting uninterrupted gameplay.
Other ByteDance-linked apps have also been impacted. Alongside TikTok, apps like Lemon8 and CapCut disappeared from app stores, while the availability of some others remains inconsistent. For example, the collaboration platform Lark was initially accessible but has since been removed, while Nuverse-published games such as Earth: Revival – Deep Underground and Ragnarok X: 3rd Anniversary remain available, at least for now.
