Marvel Snap Publisher Nuverse Is Reportedly Slashing Hundreds Of Jobs

Marvel Snap

Update (November 27, 2023): Fear not, folks — the official Marvel Snap Twitter account has responded to the reports, assuring fans that the game will continue to operate "regardless of any changes at Nuverse." Here's the full statement:

"Some of our players have expressed their concerns regarding reported structural changes at Nuverse. We wish to thank you for your concern and assure you that regardless of any changes at Nuverse, SNAP will continue to operate and flourish in the future!"

Original (November 27, 2023): Marvel Snap is one of the best superhero games you can play right now, with its slick animations, simple-to-learn card game mechanics, and wide library of Marvel Comics characters appealing to players of all kinds. Unfortunately, its future is looking a bit cloudy right now, as its publisher is pulling the plug.

As first reported by Reuters, and later confirmed by Bloomberg, Marvel Snap publisher Nuverse will seemingly be closed down, with several hundred workers set to be laid off in the process. Nuverse is a subsidiary of TikTok parent company ByteDance, which is reportedly scaling back its involvement in the gaming sector.

A spokesperson for Bytedance confirmed to Reuters and Bloomberg that the company would be restructuring its gaming business.

“We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas,” the spokesperson said, “Following a recent review, we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business.”

It’s not known at this stage if or how this will impact Marvel Snap, which was developed by Second Dinner, a small studio founded by former Hearthstone developers Ben Brode, Yong Woo, and Hamilton Chu. Bloomberg’s report says that ByteDance will be unwinding projects already under development, and weighting “potential sales of existing titles,” which could include Marvel Snap.

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Nuverse also publishes One Piece: The Voyage, an action adventure mobile game featuring stories and characters from the hit manga and anime series, Warhammer 40K: Lost Crusade, Ragnarok X: Next Generation, and a number of other non-licensed games.

ByteDance was recently reported by Reuters to be cutting hundreds of jobs at its VR subsidiary Pico, which launched the Meta Quest 2 headset competitor Pico 4 late last year. Pico was acquired by ByteDance in 2021, but has failed to make much of an impact in the VR market outside of China.