Lin Qi (; name often styled in the media as Lynch; 1981–2020) was a Chinese

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

who founded Yoozoo Games.

Early life

Lin Qi was born in 1981 in

Wenzhou Wenzhou; Chinese postal romanization, historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in China's Zhejiang province. Wenzhou is located at the extreme southeast of Zhejiang, bordering Lishui, Zhejiang, Lishui to the west, Taizhou, Zheji ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, to parents who were both involved in traditional manufacturing. From an early age, Lin Qi developed a fondness for video games. After graduating from high school, he pursued studies in computer information management at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, graduating in 2004. After graduating, he worked as a software engineer for Zhejiang's

China Telecom China Telecom Corporation Limited (CT) is a Chinese telecommunications company. It is one of the publicly traded red chip companies of the state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation. The company's H shares have been traded on the Sto ...

, and left in 2007 to become a partner in an online advertising agency.

Yoozoo

He founded Yoozoo in June 2009, which is focused on the creation and production of video games. The business experienced rapid expansion, with the establishment of subsidiaries and affiliates, including Youzoo Interactive, and diversifying into fields such as television and film production. In 2019, Yoozoo Games developed and published '' Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming'', a multi-player online game based on the HBO hit television series, which became itself a hit. Soon after, Lin Qi was involved in the production of the Netflix science fiction series '' 3 Body Problem'', which is based on computer engineer and author

Liu Cixin Liu Cixin (, pronounced ; born 23 June 1963) is a Chinese computer engineer and science fiction writer. In English translations of his works, his name is given as Cixin Liu. He is sometimes called "''Da'' Liu" ("Big Liu") by his fellow sc ...

's award-winning ''

Remembrance of Earth's Past ''Remembrance of Earth's Past'' () is a science fiction novel series by Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The series is also popularly referred to as ''Three-Body'' from part of the title of its first novel, ''The Three-Body Problem (novel), The Three- ...

'' trilogy series of books. According to the Hurun Report, Lin Qi had assets worth between 4.5 and 6.8 billion yuan, or, in 2024, between $575 and $635 million.

Death

Lin Qi reportedly felt unwell after getting off work on December 16, 2020. He sought medical treatment on his own, but went to a hospital the following day. After doctors determined that the patient had been poisoned with methylmercury chloride (CH3HgCl), the hospital contacted the police, who initiated an investigation. Zhao Jilong, the executive producer of ''3 Body Problem'', and his wife were also poisoned, but survived. Lin Qi died on 25 December 2020. The police eventually arrested Xu Yao, a former Yoozoo Games executive, who was indicted for murder, tried, and, in 2024, found guilty and sentenced to death. According to the court's decision, his motive was a dispute over running the business, while other sources assign it to Xu Yao getting a pay cut and being demoted for poor work performance.

References

{{reflist 1981 births 2020 deaths Assassinated businesspeople Assassinated Chinese people Billionaires from Zhejiang Businesspeople from Wenzhou Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business alumni Chinese chief executives Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications alumni Victims of intentional poisonings