Snail Games USA was in the process of moving to a larger office in July 2013, an event that Shi Hai had allegedly promised would be followed by Runyan's promotion to president of the company. Runyan's main grievance, however, was the nature of his termination. His decisions were questioned more frequently than those taken by Chinese employees, while colleagues who were technically his subordinates were given authority to act on behalf of Snail Games USA in ways the he was denied. Runyan has claimed that this discrimination also applied to the company's operations. "Shi Hai also made derogatory statements about American customs and culture." "Shi Hai.made comments about preferring Chinese employees to non-Chinese employees," the document states.
However, that proximity to Shi Hai brought Runyan closer to what he alleges was racial discrimination against the company's non-Chinese employees. He was given a promotion, to director of game development, and a pay increase. In February 2013, the president of Snail Games USA resigned - the company lost four presidents in five years - meaning that Runyan was effectively in charge of the entire company, reporting directly to Shi Hai. However, with a full marketing plan recently completed and the Age of Wushu's launch scheduled for March 2013, Shi Hai's actions, "threw the entire company into chaos." Runyan was again asked to shoulder extra responsibilities. In December of the same year, Shi Hai terminated "nearly all" of Snail Games USA's marketing staff in a bid to move operations back to China. In October 2012, the company's director of publishing resigned after a clash with Shi Hai, leaving Runyan to take on those responsibilities in addition to his own. "Mr Runyan maintains that he was terminated because of his race (white), his national origin (US), his physical disability" The document states that, "working for Shi Hai was extraordinarily difficult as he was a volatile individual who would often make decisions based on raw emotions and snap judgements." The suit alleges that examples of this rash behaviour were clear from the outset. Shi Hai, the Chinese founder and CEO of both Snail Games USA and its Chinese counterpart, Snail Games.Īccording to a court document passed to by Curt Holman, Runyan started work at Snail Games USA during the development of free-to-play MMO Age of Wushu.
A former executive of Snail Games USA is seeking damages for unlawful dismissal and racial discrimination.ĭavid Runyan, who joined Snail Games USA as its director of game operations in July 2012, has filed a lawsuit with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, accusing his former employer of numerous breaches of the Fair Housing and Employment Act.
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