A Chinese court has carried out the death sentence of Xu Yao, who killed his former boss Lin Qi, the founder of video game studio Yoozoo Games, by poisoning him with toxic mercury-laced pills disguised as probiotics.
The two men had worked together at Yoozoo during the company's development of Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming, a video game spinoff. Yoozoo also controlled the Chinese film and television rights to the sci-fi series 3 Body Problem, and Lin was posthumously credited as an executive producer on Netflix's adaptation of the series, which premiered in 2024 and was helmed by former Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
Xu initially managed the 3 Body Problem franchise rights for Yoozoo before a dispute with Lin led to his removal from the position. After his demotion, Xu began supplying Lin with the contaminated probiotic pills. Lin's wife also consumed some of the pills but survived the poisoning. Lin died in a hospital in December 2020 after doctors confirmed he had been poisoned.
Xu was arrested and tried in 2024, when he received a death sentence. That sentence was executed last week.
In a statement attributed to Yoozoo Games, the company said it mourned Lin and offered condolences to his family. "As colleagues who fought alongside him, all members of the company are grateful for the impartiality of the judicial process," the statement read. "Justice has ultimately been served."
Netflix's 3 Body Problem is scheduled to release its second season later this year, with a third and final season already approved for production.
Author Emily Chen: "A shocking crime tied to one of Netflix's biggest sci-fi bets, and a stark reminder that high-stakes production deals can turn deadly when ambition meets resentment."
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