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While it didn’t garner the kind of headlines that the narrowly averted TikTok ban did, the fact that Marvel Snap was briefly banned in the US highlights the precarious position many mobile games are currently in. Second Dinner, the developer of the game, was just as surprised as everyone else to find the game they worked so hard on blocked in the US, but it is now taking steps to prevent this from happening again, including seeking a new publisher.

The reason for the surprise ban was that Nuverse, the current publisher of Marvel Snap, is owned by ByteDance, the Chinese company that also owns TikTok. Because of this, they were caught up in the legislation designed to take the social media publisher offline in the US unless they divested their American branch. Marvel Snap’s servers went down on Saturday, January 18, 2025 and weren’t restored until late on Monday, January 20.

“Marvel Snap is back online in the US,” developer Second Dinner announced on social media. “But to make sure this NEVER happens again, we’re working to bring more services in-house and partner with a new publisher. This is the start of a new era for Marvel Snap.”

Second Dinner acknowledged that this “probably leaves [fans] with more questions than answers” but it is still early days for this new direction for Marvel Snap. It will take time to figure out how to expand to handle more of the Marvel Snap services internally – and to figure out which services they can even handle – as well as to find a new publisher for the hit mobile game.

We can't give you extra life, but we can keep you appraised of all the Marvel Snap codes currently available - updated weekly! - as well as the rarest Marvel Snap cards.