Lin Qi, Game of Thrones games maker, died on Christmas Day, December 25. The billionaire game tycoon was only 39. The games developer, Yoozoo board of directors confirmed the death of the company's founder and chairman in a statement on December 26.
Lin Qi is suspected to have been poisoned, according to police statements. The Shanghai Police statement pointed to one of Lin’s colleagues- identified only by his surname Xu - as the main suspect.
According to local media reports, the person in custody could be Xu Yao, who heads Yoozoo's movie production arm. There was also some speculation among local media that Lin had been poisoned via aged Pu'er tea, a fermented Chinese drink.
Yoozoo, however, released a statement, saying Lin had admitted himself to a hospital after feeling unwell but was in a stable condition. The company also issued an emotional statement on its official Weibo microblog.
"Goodbye youth," it said, adding, "We will be together, continue to be kind, continue to believe in goodness, and continue the fight against all that is bad."
The post attracted thousands of comments while the topic has been viewed more than 290 million times on Weibo.
The directors, supervisors, senior management and the employees and ex-employees of the company expressed their deep condolences on the passing of Lin Qi, the statement said.
Lin Qi, who was a star of China’s lucrative gaming market, had forayed into film production. The 39-year-old-Chinese tycoon was best known for the “Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming” strategy game.
Lin was also an avid calligrapher and a poetry enthusiast. Many of the tributes to Lin featured calligraphy.
According to the Hurun China rich list, Lin was said to have a net worth of around 6.8bn Yuan ($1billion).
Lin founded Yoozoo in 2009 and successfully led the company through a period where the gaming industries saw substantial changes toward mobile gaming. After turning his attention to film production in 2014, Lin bought the rights to the Chinese sci-fi novel “The Three-Body Problem,” with Yoozoo group securing a deal with Netflix to adapt the book into a television series produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss of “Game of Thrones” fame.
The book is the first instalment of the trilogy Remembrance of Earth's Past by writer Liu Cixin and has received critical acclaim, counting both former US President Barack Obama and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg among its fans.
