ByteDance Ban Takes Out 'Marvel Snap'
Oh you thought it was just TikTok? Nope, and Felon President is gonna take all the credit for bringing accessibility back
The family of apps owned by the China-based company ByteDance is no longer accessible to users in the United States as a result of a controversial law upheld by the Supreme Court forcing them offline unless they divest, which did not occur. It also required web-hosting firms, including TikTok's back-end cloud provider, Oracle, to stop supporting the app or face penalties that could be in the billions. While TikTok was the primary and most-publicized target, the most surprising hit in the family is probably the mobile game Marvel Snap.
What started as a message in the day or so leading up that read “We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.” Things took their turn 85 minutes sooner than such would hit, around 10:35 PM ET, the message became (choose the app that applies) "Sorry, TikTok/Marvel Rivals/CapCut isn't available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok/Marvel Rivals/CapCut for now." However, a second paragraph exclusive to TikTok gleefully gave away the game that they are “fortunate” that Felon President “has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!" He spoke earlier Saturday of a possible 90-day grace period through executive order that he definitely believes will work out so favorably for his public image.
Marvel Rivals may be the Marvel-centric video game that’s talk of the town right now, but Marvel Snap races back in as its publisher, Nuverse, is owned by ByteDance. It is a digital card game which launched in October 2022 allows players to utilize their favorite heroes and villains to duel other players armed with their own decks. It definitely has gacha elements in acquiring cards for deck building. As Marvel itself described it “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.”
The game’s developer Second Dinner released a statement on Twitter late Saturday. “Unfortunately, Marvel Snap is temporarily unavailable in U.S. app stores and is unavailable to play in the U.S. In a surprise to Second Dinner and our publisher Nuverse, Marvel Snap was affected by the takedown of TikTok late on Saturday, January 18. 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.” Snap was still acquirable on Steam on the source’s initial report, but that’s probably changed by the time this is seen. While gettable, it still wasn’t playable anymore.
Apple also posted a message regarding “availability of TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. apps in the United States” that read “Apple is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates. 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.” Foreign visitors are constrained to such limitations while within American borders.
Sources: ComicBook, NPR, Variety, Apple Support