The Real Reason Why Marvel Snap Was Just Banned In The U.S.

As of January 19, TikTok is no longer operational in the United States, and it took a number of other popular apps with it. The law banning TikTok was passed by Congress last year amid concerns of national security, stemming from the app's connection to Chinese parent company ByteDance. Unfortunately for fans of "Marvel Snap," the mega-popular deck-building game has also been taken down as an unforeseen victim of the ban. Gamers were shocked when they attempted to log in to "Marvel Snap" late on Saturday evening, only to find that either they couldn't connect or they had an unexpected message waiting for them: "A law banning 'Marvel Snap' has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use 'Marvel Snap' right now." The message ends with a promise to get things sorted out and get the game running in the United States once again. This isn't the first time a game has been banned in the U.S., but the reason behind it is surprising.

Marvel Snap is now banned in the U.S. seemingly as part of the TikTok ban pic.twitter.com/6DkFQAo0H9

— Wario64 (@Wario64) January 19, 2025

"Marvel Snap" has also disappeared from the App Store, and although some users are still able to find the listing for the game on Steam, they are unable to log in to play it. Don't worry if you're confused; you're not alone. "Marvel Snap" publisher Nuverse is actually owned by TikTok's parent's company, ByteDance — a fact that many "Marvel Snap" fans learned entirely too late. Since ByteDance's license to operate in the U.S. has been withdrawn, every other bit of software under its umbrella has been impacted. In addition to "Marvel Rivals," people on social media expressed shock at the fact that popular editing tool CapCut also ceased to operate in the U.S. at the same time, as well as multiple other games. Needless to say, the response has been fast and furious.

Even before it began taking popular games with it, the law banning TikTok has been a controversial one. Supporters hope that it will protect users from potentially having their personal information shared with the Chinese government, while detractors argue that the ban infringes on Americans' First Amendment rights. Now that "Marvel Snap" has been caught up in the ban, gamers everywhere are freaking out. Many fans have expressed outrage over the amount of money they've spent in the game and are demanding refunds. Some are already claiming to be back in the game using a VPN. Others are simply blown away by the fact that they had no heads-up about "Marvel Snap" going under, while some gamers are frustrated by the fact that this app ban was such a huge priority for the United States government. "Marvel Snap" streamers are trying to figure out what to do next. Perhaps no group was more surprised than "Marvel Snap" developer Second Dinner, which posted to X:

Unfortunately, MARVEL SNAP is temporarily unavailable in U.S. app stores and is unavailable to play in the U.S.

This outage is a surprise to us and wasn't planned. MARVEL SNAP isn't going anywhere.

We're actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will...

— Second Dinner (@seconddinner) January 19, 2025

It's unclear what the next step will be for ByteDance and "Marvel Snap," but it does look like there's a potential save in the works. During a chat with NBC, President-elect Donald Trump revealed that he could potentially give ByteDance a 90-day extension, which would allow it time to find a U.S.-based buyer and avoid an outright ban. This could theoretically give "Marvel Snap" a second chance in the market, as well.