Marvel Snap Appears Safe After Dev Secures $100 Million Funding

It looks like Marvel Snap is secure after its developer, Second Dinner, secured a $100 million investment.

In November, Second Dinner was forced to reassure concerned players of the well-received online card game after its publisher ran into trouble.

Reports indicated TikTok maker ByteDance planned to wind down its Nuverse gaming brand and retreat from mainstream video games, and was looking for ways to sell off launched titles. That included Marvel Snap, Second Dinner’s Marvel-themed Hearthstone-a-like that launched in 2022. Nuverse published Marvel Snap across mobile and PC.

But now, Second Dinner has secured $100 million in a Series B funding round led by Griffin Gaming Partners, which means the developer will continue to operate independently, and use the cash to develop new games.

"We want to make smart, targeted bets that leverage our strengths and give us space to build fresh, innovative games that we love and that we want to share with millions of players," Second Dinner's CCO Matt Wyble told GamesBeat.

Nick Tuosto, co-founder and managing director of Griffin Gaming Partners, added: "Second Dinner has assembled one of the strongest creative teams that we have ever come across. Marvel Snap adds to the management team's incredible track record of creating hit titles.

"We are thrilled to partner with Second Dinner to grow Marvel Snap and look forward to new titles developed by this ridiculously talented team."

According to GI.biz, Marvel Snap has seen $50 million in player spending since it launched in October, with 18 million player downloads. Publisher Nuverse was only set up in 2019, and was seen as part of ByteDance’s big-budget bid to get in on the video game market. Last year, Reuters reported Nuverse hadn't performed well enough, and that Marvel Snap had “amassed a cult following but was not a commercial hit."

Second Dinner was co-founded by former Hearthstone director Ben Brode and fellow Blizzard veteran Hamilton Chu back in 2019. As for ByteDance, Reuters reports it's in talks with "multiple prospective buyers" of its gaming assets, including Tencent.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].