‘Marvel Snap’ is now once again on the App Store.
Apple allows “Marvel Snap” to return to the App Store, presumably thanks to new publishing arrangements that gets the game away from the still-banned ByteDance.
Just days after was initially removed from the iOS App Store, Marvel Snap is now back for good. The studio behind the game has seemingly made alternate publishing arrangements to facilitate the return, distancing themselves from ByteDance in the process.
Apple first removed the game from the App Store on January 19, as the iPhone maker was required to comply with legislation banning all ByteDance applications within the United States. Marvel Snap was among several ByteDance-distributed applications affected by a blanket ban, which also included TikTok, Lemon8, and CapCut.
At the time of the ban, Marvel Snap‘s publisher was the Chinese company Nuverse, a subsidiary of ByteDance. Consequently, Marvel Snap was forced to cease operations within the United States and was removed from the Apple App Store.
Two days later, on January 21, the developer of the popular card-collecting game announced that it was once again available to US users and that it was looking for a new publisher so that Marvel Snap could return to the App Store. While Marvel Snap was able to resume its US operations after a 75 day delay was signed by President Trump, that executive order isn’t quite enough for Apple to continue distributing the app.
That all changed on Monday, as Marvel Snap can now once again be downloaded and played on iPhones in the United States. The card-collecting game has also been removed from Apple’s list of ByteDance applications, indicating that the game’s developer, Second Dinner, was likely able to make alternate publishing arrangements. No exact details have yet been provided, however.
Players in the United States are being provided with additional experience and in-game rewards as compensation for the two-day outage that occurred as a result of the ByteDance ban.
While Marvel Snap has managed to return to the App Store, TikTok, and other ByteDance applications still can’t be downloaded from Apple’s App Store. Users can still watch TikTok videos if they have the application downloaded.
Apple has no immediate plans of reinstating TikTok and other ByteDance applications due to the potential of a $5,000 per user fine. ByteDance could save TikTok by selling it to a US-based company, though it probably won’t be Apple.
