Marvel Snap devs say the card game won't go anywhere, as publishers reportedly look to exit “mainstream games”

rockpapershotgun.com:

Marvel Snap developers Second Dinner have reassured players of the digital card game that it will continue to “operate and flourish in the future”, in the wake of reports that publishers Nuverse are set to step away from the mainstream games space.

Marvel Snap launched just last year, with some of the card-minded talent behind Hearthstone working on the comic-book CCG. It seemed to carve out a decent name for itself among the very crowded realm of digital card games, earning fans for its lightning-quick three-minute games and fairly approachable gameplay.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to have been enough for publishers Nuverse - or more specifically, Nuverse owners ByteDance, best known as the people that make TikTok (you might have heard of it). According to Reuters, while Marvel Snap found a “cult following”, that hasn’t translated into hard financial numbers.

Combined with what seems to be wobbly performance across their other releases since moving into games with the founding of Nuverse in 2019, ByteDance are now apparently looking to back away from “mainstream games”.

ByteDance are reportedly in the process of “restructuring” their games business, with hundreds of staff expected to be affected. Nuverse themselves acquired developers C4games in 2021, who are behind the China-only mobile Command & Conquer spin-off Red Alert Online. This reportedly follows ByteDance seeking a buyer for another of their developers, Moonton Technology, earlier this month and making a number of layoffs at VR arm Pico.

In keeping with the focus away from “mainstream” games specifically, the company’s casual games arm Ohayoo won’t be affected. Nor will their library of casual games offered directly via TikTok and its Chinese