Seeing Blizzard employees working so efficiently, Mavi couldn't help but clench his fist on the other end of the call. "Very good! How's the Battle platform testing going?"
"Chairman Mavi, the Battle platform system has also been fully tested. We're just waiting for your decision!" Mike Morhai responded confidently.
In this tiline, Blizzard had not yet established the Battle platform. Fortunately, Mavi noticed in ti and had a team develop it. When Mike said he was waiting for Mavi's decision, he ant whether to move up the ga's beta test schedule.
"Alright, let's schedule the Counter-Strike beta test for next week!" Mavi declared firmly over the phone. This was a make-or-break mont, and this launch was critical for him.
"Understood, Chairman Mavi!" Mike Morhai replied with equal seriousness. Whether Blizzard could make a coback in this tiline depended entirely on how much buzz the Counter-Strike beta test could generate.
---
A week later—Wednesday, August 18, 8:00 PM—Mavi's Counter-Strike would officially launch on the Battle platform.
As 8:00 PM approached, players who had purchased CD keys had already stationed themselves in front of their computers, eager to be among the first to experience this long-awaited ga.
Right at 8:00 PM, ten pre-prepared servers went live on Battle as scheduled.
Almost imdiately, the first two servers were overwheld by players! Many rushed to log in, create their IDs, choose their factions, and customize their characters.
This version of Counter-Strike was different from the one in the previous tiline. Mavi had incorporated elents from World of Warcraft, dividing players into "Police" and "Terrorist" factions. This setup gave battles a stronger sense of mission and honor, further enhancing players' engagent and spending motivation.
Each beta CD key ca with a "Beta Gift Pack," containing random items such as weapons, ammunition, and body armor.
Once players claid their items, the most exciting part of the ga began—the battle between the "Police" and the "Terrorists"!
This warzone-style combat, featuring ambushes, misfires, multi-kills, and executions, kept players' adrenaline pumping. Every mont of gaplay could trigger intense emotions and reactions.
"HEADSHOT!"
"DOUBLE KILL!"
"MULTI KILL!"
With these combo-kill sound effects and imrsive gunfights, almost every player who experienced the Counter-Strike beta was instantly hooked—and completely addicted!
As a result, all other gas released around the sa ti were utterly overshadowed by Blizzard's latest masterpiece. Many gars spent entire days on Battle—either waiting in queue to enter the ga or already locked in intense battles, even neglecting bathroom breaks.
Across the U.S., nearly every internet café had at least one computer running Counter-Strike. And this was just the limited beta test—the public release hadn't even begun yet! When that day arrived, Counter-Strike would likely dominate entire gaming cafés.
---
"Chairman Mavi, after three days of beta testing, the servers are performing well, and player feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We've been tracking any bugs that appear, so we can fix them in the next update. Also, due to the ga's huge popularity, many players who didn't get a CD key are leaving ssages on our hopage asking when the public beta will open..."
Over the phone, Mike Morhai gave Mavi a full report on the ga's performance. In summary—those who managed to grab a CD key were completely addicted, while those who didn't were desperate to get in, so even tempted to smash their keyboards in frustration.
"We'll set the public beta for two months from now. As for the Counter-Strike public beta accounts, we can start selling them in the next couple of days—limited to five million copies. Keep the price the sa: $28 per account," Mavi instructed. He was committed to the scarcity marketing strategy to maximize demand.
"Five million copies? Understood, Chairman Mavi! I'll make the arrangents right away!" Mike Morhai responded with enthusiasm. Five million public beta accounts ant a total revenue of $140 million! Adding the 500,000 closed beta CD keys already sold, that brought total earnings to $154 million!
Such an astonishing cash flow was mind-blowing, especially considering that Blizzard had only spent $3.5 million to develop Counter-Strike (which even included the cost of C4 explosives for tank destruction sequences).
---
Two days later, the announcent of the Counter-Strike public beta sale spread like wildfire. Players who had missed out on the closed beta were overjoyed, eagerly awaiting the mont they could finally buy an account.
On August 25, at 4:00 PM, Blizzard's official website updated with an announcent: Counter-Strike public beta accounts—five million available—were now on sale. A pre-order link was included.
The mont players saw the announcent, they rushed to the website and frantically clicked on the purchase link as if they were fighting for Black Friday deals.
Many who managed to secure an account flooded the ssage board with excitent:
"Haha! Finally got one! Watching my friends play these past few days was torture!"
"Went to an internet café and saw tons of people playing. The graphics and action look insane. I can't wait for the public beta!"
In just three days, 750,000 public beta accounts were sold, generating $21 million in revenue for Blizzard.
Two days later, Blizzard's president, Mike Morhai, excitedly called Mavi.
"Chairman Mavi! I have amazing news! As of noon today, Counter-Strike public beta accounts have sold 1.3 million copies! At this rate, we expect all five million accounts to sell out within a month!"
Mike Morhai was thrilled—clearly overwheld by such a massive success.
Ever since Mavi had acquired Blizzard from Vivendi and led the company back to prominence, Morhai's admiration for him had only deepened.
"Good, well done," Mavi replied calmly. One month was a reasonable tifra—just in ti for the Central Naval Equipnt Design Bureau's funding request to be submitted to Naval Headquarters.
"Oh, and Chairman Mavi! We've also received inquiries from several countries in Europe and Asia. They want to negotiate the rights to distribute Counter-Strike in their regions..."
(End of Chapter)
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