The Chinese MMORPG company Yoozoo Games (Drakensang Online, League of Angels, Game of Thrones) has lost its CEO and founder. The multi-millionaire Lin Qi (39) passed away on Christmas. The police have identified an employee of Yoozoo Games as the prime suspect: He is believed to have poisoned his boss after his salary was cut, authorities suspect.
This is Lin Qi: The 39-year-old Lin Qi was one of the most successful Chinese game developers and was also starting to enter the film industry.
Qi founded Yoozoo in 2009 and fully embraced the development in Chinese gaming from PC to mobile. Many of the company’s games are so-called “freemium” games. They are initially free but rely heavily on microtransactions. Here in the West, Yoozoo’s browser games are particularly well-known:
- The MMORPG League of Angels – an MMORPG with attractive protagonists
- Drakensang Online – developed in Germany by Bigpoint Games, a subsidiary of Yoozoo
- Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming – a successful browser game that also came to Steam
Recently, Yoozoo wanted to enter the film business. They have held the rights to the sci-fi novel “Three-Body Problem” since 2015 and sold those rights to Netflix. This could be the material for the next hit series.
Lin was to serve as Executive Producer for the sci-fi series that Netflix is planning, along with the creators behind the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Lin Qi’s fortune is estimated at about one billion US dollars.
Prime suspect is head of the film department
This is known about the death: Lin Qi reportedly admitted himself to a hospital on December 16 because he was suffering from “acute illness symptoms,” but was stable at that time. A doctor reported: Qi could barely walk and had a pain-distorted face. The patient apparently went straight to the intensive care unit and was later transferred to another hospital.
Already on December 17, there were indications that Qi was brain dead. The death was confirmed on December 25.
The site Variety quotes a Chinese medium close to the communist government: The police in Shanghai currently believe that Lin Qi was poisoned, allegedly due to a “work conflict.” The salary of an employee of Lin Qi, known as “Xu,” was apparently cut. The 39-year-old is said to have poisoned his boss with medication thereafter.
The BBC quotes local news reports: “Xu” is said to be the head of the film department at Yoozoo.
The management of Yoozoo Games expressed shock in a statement over the death of their CEO and founder. The managers and employees are in deep mourning and send their condolences to the family.
According to reports, employees of the company laid a heart made of white flowers and candles at the entrance of the company building.
Many of the modern MMORPGs come from China or South Korea. We have compiled the most important online role-playing games from Asia in an article:
