With the release of Marvel Snap, developer Second Dinner swept game awards this season, the game being praised for its fast paced card-battling action based around the famous comics franchise while proving popular with players and critics alike.
But if it was a success for Second Dinner, then it was equally so for publisher Nuverse and their parent company Bytedance. Nuverse recently spoke about their intention to leverage the success of Marvel Snap in order to expand their global focus, as well as announcing another game in the works from SRGA Studios, Dragonheir: Silent Gods, to be published in 2023 by Nuverse.
We spoke to Nuverse’s senior director of global business, Tom Van Dam, to tell us more about what’s next for Nuverse now it boasts one of 2022’s biggest mobile games in its catalogue.
PocketGamer.biz: Can you tell us about how Nuverse and Second Dinner got together for Marvel Snap?
Tom Van Dam: At Nuverse, we are very deliberate about the kind of product and partner that we get behind. We ultimately decided to partner with Second Dinner because we shared the same vision and massive belief in Marvel Snap. Second Dinner’s early prototype for the game just blew us away and obviously the pedigree of their team as leaders in the CCG space was a big draw as well. In terms of why Second Dinner wanted to work with us, I think the global reach of Nuverse was very appealing to their team.
We have a very global approach, with teams all over the world working hand-in-hand to successfully drive projects forward together. Most publishers have regional success, but we have been able to prove our massive publishing power across all markets. Additionally, Nuverse provides immense power of global scalability and AAA global marketing that I think Second Dinner knew would bring Marvel Snap the level of support it deserved. We created some truly amazing marketing campaigns together that were unlike anything seen in the mobile games space before.
How did Nuverse and Second Dinner approach the Marvel licence given the calibre of the franchise?
The team at Second Dinner had worked with Jay Ong of Marvel Games previously, so there was a strong relationship and a lot of trust there since day one. And the team at Marvel was excited about our ability to scale the game globally. We are all huge Marvel fans so it was a lot of fun for both teams to dream big and come up with the coolest possible gameplay and marketing promotions to pair with one of the world’s most iconic IPs.
Nuverse respects developers of all sizes and backgrounds and lets them have full control of their creative vision. We believe that the developer relationship is maintained by giving them full creative freedom and autonomy to design, develop and run the game as they see fit. We value the products that we choose to back and want to give our developer teams, like Second Dinner, the power to provide immersive, exciting and inspiring experiences to players without feeling controlled by the publisher. If a product instils confidence in Nuverse, we spare no expense in ensuring that the game is well supported. Marvel Snap is a prime example of that.
Will you be working closely with Second Dinner again?
We are very grateful that fans love playing Marvel Snap as much as we do. Right now, we are incredibly focused on making the game even better, launching new features routinely like battle mode. As a publisher, we are continually speaking with developers around the world to find new partners and games to support. We also have many in-house titles being developed and primed for global release. We believe our decentralised global marketing mode of operation can be beneficial to other titles as well.
How do you feel about Marvel Snap winning the award for best mobile game at the DICE Awards?
It was an incredibly exciting moment for all of us! We’ve won some really big awards since launching in October, and we are very grateful to the gaming community for how much love they’ve shown our title and validation given to our efforts to create an amazing new generation of CCGs There was no better way to kick off 2023 than by winning Mobile Game of the Year at DICE.
What’s next? How do you follow up on this success.
From day one, we believed in Second Dinner’s vision for Marvel Snap and are incredibly grateful for the support that we’ve received from players and the gaming community. As a publisher, we are dedicated to serving gamers worldwide, building a global community, and providing fun and inspiring experiences for every type of gamer across all platforms. We view each studio and game as completely unique, and look to supporting them however they need us to in order to make the best game possible.
