The president of a Chinese gaming company affiliated with Netflix who was poisoned this month has died – and a co-worker remains the prime suspect in the shocking case. according to reports.
Yoozoo group leader Lin Qi, executive producer of the streaming giant’s adaptation of the Chinese science fiction book series The Three-Body Problem, was first hospitalized on December 16th.
Chinese media have identified a senior Yoozoo executive, Xu Yao, as Lin’s target after an internal dispute within the rising company.
Now in custody, Xu headed the company’s film and television division and was chosen to oversee all projects related to The Three-Body Problem.
Yoozoo, which owns the production rights to the books, initially tried to produce film and game adaptations of the series, but those projects failed before the firm successfully partnered with Netflix.
Shanghai police began investigating the case after hospital officials alerted them to Qi disease and suspected poisoning.
“After the call, the police started an investigation. According to the investigations carried out on the site and subsequent interviews, the police found that a suspect named Xu, who is a co-worker of the victim Lin, was the most likely to be the perpetrator “, according to a post on social media of the department. “Suspect Xu has been arrested and investigations are continuing.”
Lin, 39, was allegedly poisoned after drinking a cup of compromised tea, according to reports.
He was working with the creators of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and DB Weiss, on the development of the long-awaited project.
Written by acclaimed Chinese author Liu Cixin, The Three-Body series has become a best-selling worldwide phenomenon and has won a number of renowned awards.
Primarily a game developer, Yoozoo is also producing a video game based on Game of Thrones.
The company’s shares fell to 18 percent after Lin’s initial hospitalization.