Rage, VPNs, refunds, Trump: the many ways Marvel Snap players in the US are coping with the blackout

The night of Jan. 18 brought chaos to Marvel Snap players in the United States. In an unexpected turn of events, the popular digital card game suddenly went offline, leaving players scrambling for answers—and, in some cases, refunds.

While the TikTok blackout had been widely anticipated due to the new divestiture bill targeting “foreign adversary controlled applications,” Marvel Snap’s removal blindsided both players and its developer, Second Dinner Studios. The Act requires apps owned by companies like ByteDance—TikTok’s Chinese parent company—to either divest or face restrictions, but Marvel Snap wasn’t on anyone’s radar.

Second Dinner, an independent American game studio, develops the game in collaboration with Nuverse, a previously yByteDance-owned publisher. While the developers had no idea this was coming, ByteDance appears to have decided to include Marvel Snap and other Nuverse games in the ban, much to the frustration of fans.

Second Dinner took to Twitter shortly after the blackout to address the confusion:

For some players, this message wasn’t enough. “Ah yes, national security risk *checks notes* Marvel Snap,” one user sarcastically quipped on Twitter. Others are furious over their potentially lost progress and in-app purchases. “Why didn’t Second Dinner warn us?” has become a common refrain across various apps.

Redditors have been busy dissecting the situation. One theory suggests that ByteDance is intentionally overextending the law to stir up public outcry and political leverage. Another redditor speculated that Second Dinner may have been left in the dark entirely, writing: “There is literally zero legal reason for Snap to go dark. That was initiated by ByteDance. That ByteDance would pull such a stunt was not on anyone’s radar.”

But not everyone is buying into the conspiracy theories. In a plea for calm, another user pointed out: “Second Dinner is a games company. Their goal is to make money selling their product, Marvel Snap… Second Dinner is not your friend, but they are also not an all-knowing conspiratorial cabal scheming in an evil lair. Ben Brode is not trying to gaslight you.”

In the absence of a clear path forward, US players have resorted to creative solutions—or, in some cases, vented their frustrations online. Some have turned to VPNs to bypass the blackout entirely, setting their location to countries like Canada where Marvel Snap remains playable. Ben Brode, Second Dinner’s Chief Development Officer, even chimed in on Bluesky, recommending VPNs as a temporary fix.

Meanwhile, others are demanding refunds for their in-app purchases. Discussions on Reddit and Second Dinner’s Twitter are full of players seeking advice on how to navigate refund policies on Google Play.

But not everyone is fixated on immediate solutions. Some are treating the blackout as an opportunity to try new games or step away from screens altogether. As the plea for calm thread poster said, “Now’s the perfect chance to play something different.”

The future of Marvel Snap remains uncertain. While TikTok’s potential 90-day extension has been floated by President-elect Trump, his statement offered no specific assurances for other ByteDance-linked apps.

With the game in limbo, players are left to wonder: Will ByteDance step up to save Marvel Snap, or is this the end of the line for US players? For now, VPNs and a good dose of patience seem to be the only answers.