After falling victim to the recent US TikTok ban, Marvel Snap switches to a new US-based publisher

(Image credit: Second Dinner)

Last week Marvel Snap went offline during the United States' short-lived TikTok ban. The superhero CCG was swept up in the diplomatic spat due to its publisher Nuverse, which is a subsidiary of TikTok owner Bytedance. At the time, Marvel Snap studio Second Dinner indicated it would move away from Nuverse, and it looks like that's already happening.

In an X post published today, Second Dinner announced it will be handling most "operational and publishing" duties in-house with the support of Skystone Games, a small US-based publisher founded in 2020 by former Blizzard luminary David Brevik.

"To ensure this never happens again, and with the help of our current publisher Nuverse (Thank you!), we've already signed agreements and started the work to bring almost all operational and publishing responsibilities in-house at Second Dinner with support from a new U.S.-based publisher, Skystone Games," Second Dinner posted. "This has been a full-team effort between Second Dinner, Nuverse, Skystone and Marvel. Thank you again for all of your support—we're excited about what's ahead for Marvel Snap!"

Screenshot of X announcement from Second Dinner about its new publisher, Skystone Games — (Image credit: X)

If Skystone Games isn't on your radar, don't feel bad: since 2020 they've published some cool looking games—including the recent Tyrant's Realm, and Brevik's own It Lurks Below—but Marvel Snap has a dramatically larger profile than anything in their catalogue.

While TikTok was only blocked in the US for 12 hours, Marvel Snap remained offline on PC for 24 hours. Worse, its App Store equivalent was offline for an entire week, only re-emerging on January 27.

Naturally, the game's unscheduled downtime led many players to demand compensatory free stuff. If you're based in the US and feel outraged that the game has been offline, details on all the free stuff you can get (including XP, Spotlight Keys and more) are here.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.