Don’t blame Thanos: “Marvel Snap” is a casualty of the U.S.’s move to ban TikTok over fears about its Chinese parent company.
It’s not just TikTok that winked offline for U.S. users Saturday, just hours before the Jan. 19 deadline in the U.S. government’s divest-or-ban law targeting TikTok. At least 10 other ByteDance-owned apps also were disabled Saturday night because of a U.S. law prohibiting from being distributed and used in the country unless the Beijing-based company sold the apps — including “Marvel Snap,” a digital collectible card game featuring characters from the Disney-owned studio.
On Saturday night, “Marvel Snap,” developed by Second Dinner and published by ByteDance’s Nuverse games division, was pulled from Apple and Google app stores and displayed a message to players that the game was temporarily unavailable.
“Unfortunately, MARVEL SNAP is temporarily unavailable in U.S. app stores and is unavailable to play in the U.S.,” Second Dinner said in a statement posted on X late Saturday. “In a surprise to Second Dinner and our publisher Nuverse, MARVEL SNAP was affected by the takedown of TikTok late on Saturday, January 18th. 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.”
“Marvel Snap” was released in October 2022. Marvel describes the game this way: “The fastest card battler in the Multiverse is here! Assemble your Marvel dream team from a super roster of your favorite heroes and villains—then make your move. MARVEL SNAP unleashes the entire Marvel Universe into a fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping, strategic card battler.”
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Apple posted a message on Saturday regarding “availability of TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. apps in the United States,” explaining that the apps are no longer available in the U.S.
“Apple is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates,” the message says. “Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries — including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, and others — will no longer be available for download or updates on the App Store for users in the United States starting January 19, 2025.”
The following apps developed by ByteDance and its subsidiaries are affected: TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Shop Seller Center, CapCut, Lemon8, Hypic, Lark – Team Collaboration, Lark – Rooms Display, Lark Rooms Controller, Gauth: AI Study Companion and Marvel Snap.
According to Apple’s notice, any of the affected apps will remain on users’ devices if they have already been installed. However, “they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. In-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible.” In addition, “Users in the United States won’t receive updates for these apps, which could potentially impact performance, security, and compatibility with future versions of iOS and iPadOS, and some app functions might become limited or stop working since the app can’t receive updates.”