After shutting down in the U.S. over the weekend, Marvel Snap came back online last night, and players can enjoy the game without having to use a VPN workaround. That’s certainly welcome news, but developer Second Dinner wants to ensure that this situation doesn’t happen again. In a pair of posts on Bluesky, Second Dinner chief development officer and co-founder Ben Brode addressed the game’s return, and shared plans to seek out a new publisher. The announcement was light on details, and Brode did not reveal how long it might take for the change to happen.
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“WHEW. MARVEL SNAP is back online in the U.S. 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,” Brode wrote on Bluesky. “We know this probably leaves you with more questions than answers. We appreciate your patience, but in the meantime, enjoy playing MARVEL SNAP.”
Marvel Snap‘s current publisher is NuVerse, a subsidiary of ByteDance. The shutdown of Marvel Snap was a direct result of the shutdown of all ByteDance apps this past weekend. While the shutdown of TikTok was long anticipated, the developers at Second Dinner were taken by complete surprise when Marvel Snap went down. Thankfully, the game was brought back quickly, but the situation has been a source of frustration for everyone involved. While many fans have been understanding about the shutdown, others have asked for some kind of compensation for the trouble.
While Marvel Snap is back to being playable, it’s not available to download again on all platforms. As of this writing, the game cannot be found on the App Store. In a reply to one Marvel Snap player, Brode said that “we don’t believe that will come up until a bit later, not exactly sure on the timing right now,” before adding that the team is “working on it.” Thankfully, the game remains available on Steam, for those interested.
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It’s actually pretty impressive that Second Dinner was able to get Marvel Snap back up so quickly, but it’s easy to see why the team wouldn’t want to deal with a situation like this again. Live service games like Marvel Snap can only continue to thrive as long as they keep players invested, and willing to sign in each day. When a game goes down for a day or two, that’s a lot of potential revenue lost, at a time when live service games as a whole are struggling. That’s not to mention the potential players that can’t currently download the game on Apple products. Hopefully Second Dinner can find a new publisher for Marvel Snap quickly, and leave this whole situation in the past.
Are you happy Marvel Snap is looking for a new publisher? Did you try playing the game during the time it was down? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
