Snail (company)

Snail (Chinese: 蜗牛; pinyin: Wōniú), or Suzhou Snail Digital Technology Co Ltd, is a video game company and a Virtual Network Operator headquartered in Suzhou, China, which has branches Snail Games and Snail Mobile. Its division, Snail USA, is responsible for bringing Snail Games products to audiences in North America and South America. With a focus on free-to-play online games, Snail Games acts as a developer and publisher of original IP across multiple genres and distribution channels, including massively multiplayer online (MMOs), real-time strategy (RTS), and casual games. Its global registered user base has reached over 70 million accounts, largely driven by its independent games portal Woniu.com. The U.S. operation anticipates the launch of its portal for Western audiences in Q2 2011, PlaySnail.com, to further drive its efforts abroad.

History

Snail was founded by Shi Hai in Suzhou, China, and became established as Suzhou Electronic Co., Ltd. in October 2000. The company is one of the first online game developers in China. With over 1,500 employees, Snail has a global presence, with offices in China (Suzhou and Shanghai), Taiwan, Russia and the US, and has localized its games into more than 20 languages.