Marvel Snap goes offline in the United States in the wake of TikTok ban

• Marvel Snap has been pulled from release in the United States in the wake of the TikTok ban
• TikTok’s publisher and developer, ByteDance, is also the parent company of devs Second Dinner
• It’s unclear when, if ever, Snap will return to mobile

It’s turning out to be a pretty big weekend for fans of Marvel Snap, but not in a good way, unfortunately. That’s because, in the wake of the banning of social media app TikTok, publisher ByteDance has also pulled many of their gaming releases, seemingly in protest; and yes, that includes the hit comic-themed card battler.

Those of you who are well-read in the broader political world will know that the TikTok ban has been big news, due to accusations from American politicians that it constitutes a “foreign adversary controlled application”. While many have indeed termed it solely a TikTok ban, it also includes any and all applications published by ByteDance and their subsidiaries.

Although it might not have been anticipated by politicians, I reckon you could look at ByteDance’s sudden move as a bit of malicious compliance on their part. It certainly seems to have had the intended effect of enraging Marvel Snap fans towards this political act that may have otherwise let it pass them by. 

Disassembled

I’ve little doubt that Marvel Snap, among other apps owned and published by ByteDance, being pulled will continue to generate quite the firestorm amongst fans. Whether or not that has much of an effect politically is anyone’s guess, but if I were being a bit cynical I’d say that ByteDance giving fans little in the way of advance warning might have been intentional to shock fans into voicing their anger.

If you’re curious you can take a gander at the official text of the ban and get a better understanding of it over on the official website of Congress.

Of course, if you’re lucky enough to be in one of the unaffected territories you can always dig into our tier list of all Marvel Snap cards ranked by power, and build a world-beating deck!