"$500 million? Mr. Pitt, our boss has no issue with this price at all," said the investment team representative without hesitation.
The owner of Manchester United, Pitt, stood there in shock. He couldn't believe it—who was this billionaire casually throwing around half a billion dollars without even blinking?
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One month later, Mavi successfully acquired both the English Premier League's Manchester United and the Los Angeles Lakers by spending money and using "other special means." The total cost amounted to $960 million.
In the future, these two teams could be valued at over $6 billion, a fivefold return on investment. While the return wasn't exceptionally high, the entertainment value was undeniable.
Not only could Mavi flaunt his wealth in front of these famous athletes, but the upcoming season and championship games would also be exciting to watch. This acquisition added plenty of entertainment to his life.
That's right—this was just another typical day in the life of a top-tier billionaire. Bored? Buy a team for fun. Need excitement? Find new ways to enjoy life.
Take Counter-Strike, for example. The game had been online for over a year now and had taken the world by storm.
However, as the global gaming market reached saturation and player enthusiasm slightly waned, Counter-Strike's global online player count saw another slight decline compared to the previous quarter.
Why "another" decline? Because as players figured out all the game's mechanics and strategies, its replayability diminished. For two consecutive quarters, both global player numbers and sales revenue had been on a downward trend. This indicated that the game had already reached its peak potential, and its most exciting aspects had been fully explored.
The real question now was: how much longer could it stay relevant before being phased out by the industry?
Meanwhile, the Blizzard team had been developing Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. Both projects had entered their third phase of development. Warcraft III was expected to be completed in three months, while World of Warcraft would take another five to six months.
Given the cooling popularity of Counter-Strike, Mavi immediately contacted Blizzard's president, Mike Morahan, to discuss the situation.
"Hey, Mike. Counter-Strike's quarterly sales have been steadily declining. Do you have any good solutions for this?" Mavi asked.
Hearing his chairman's concern, Blizzard's president, Mike Morahan, replied with a troubled expression. "Uh… Chairman Ma, I've already discussed this with the game development and operations teams. Right now, our only options are updating maps, adding new weapons and ammunition, or running promotional events to retain existing players."
When it came to declining player engagement or reduced spending, no gaming company had a perfect solution. After all, players naturally grow tired of a game over time. Developers also hesitated to make drastic changes, fearing they might backfire and drive even more players away.
After thinking for a moment, Mavi suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He said to Mike Morahan, "How about this, Mike? Maybe we should release a follow-up version of Counter-Strike to reignite players' excitement."
"A follow-up version? What kind of follow-up version, Chairman Ma? Please tell me more!" Mike asked with curiosity.
As the president of a game company, Mike often wondered where Mavi got so many creative ideas. It was as if he alone could rival an entire development team—no, multiple teams.
"Hmm… let's call it Counter-Strike: Battle Royale!" Mavi blurted out. This idea had just come to him, so many details still needed to be worked out.
For instance, the game's parameters and graphics quality would have to be adjusted to match the average PC specifications in 2001. Otherwise, if the hardware requirements were too high, it would be critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful—simply because most computers wouldn't be able to run it.
"Counter-Strike: Battle Royale?" Mike repeated. "From the name, it sounds like a survival-based shooter?"
"Not exactly pure survival. It's more of a battle royale shooter with survival elements," Mavi explained. "It's quite different from Counter-Strike. Players will need to gather resources across the map, fight other players within a shrinking safe zone, and survive until the end."
Mavi described the essence of the battle royale genre based on his memories from his past life. Hearing this, Mike's eyes lit up. He was immediately captivated by the concept.
"Chairman Ma! Given Counter-Strike's massive player base, I believe this Counter-Strike: Battle Royale could definitely attract their attention and interest!" Mike cautiously responded, still maintaining a pragmatic stance.
His cautious personality prevented him from making absolute claims, but his words already showed that he was highly optimistic about Mavi's new game idea.
"Yes, but we shouldn't be overly optimistic either," Mavi said. "Here's the plan—reach out to Vivendi and see how much they'd be willing to sell Ubisoft for."
Vivendi owned Ubisoft, but the company had been struggling under Vivendi's control. Unlike Blizzard, which had been lucky enough to be rescued by Mavi, Ubisoft was still suffering under its corporate overlords.
In Mavi's past life, Ubisoft had produced legendary games such as Rayman, the Assassin's Creed series, Prince of Persia, and Splinter Cell. It was one of the top ten gaming companies on Steam, with significant potential value.
"Ubisoft? Oh! Understood, Chairman Ma!" Mike acknowledged.
The name "Ubisoft" brought back many memories for him. However, Blizzard was no longer the struggling company it had once been.
Now, thanks to the capital it had raised through the Nasdaq stock market, Blizzard had turned the tables on its old parent company.
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(End of Chapter)