A grounded theory approach to understanding in-game goods purchase
Fecha
2022Versión
Acceso abierto / Sarbide irekia
Tipo
Artículo / Artikulua
Versión
Versión publicada / Argitaratu den bertsioa
Identificador del proyecto
Impacto
|
10.1371/journal.pone.0262998
Resumen
Video game companies are increasingly diversifying their profit models. Rather than relying
exclusively on the sale of video game titles or the subscription model, video game companies
are maximising the revenues and extending the lifecycle of their games by means of a
strategy based on the sale of in-game goods. This study contributes to the theory on ingame
goods purchases by explaining why ...
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Video game companies are increasingly diversifying their profit models. Rather than relying
exclusively on the sale of video game titles or the subscription model, video game companies
are maximising the revenues and extending the lifecycle of their games by means of a
strategy based on the sale of in-game goods. This study contributes to the theory on ingame
goods purchases by explaining why and how video game players purchase different
types of in-game goods. We used an inductive approach involving qualitative data analysis
based on grounded theory. Six types of in-game goods are grouped into three categories:
functional-based goods, probability-based goods, and ornamental-based goods. After
acknowledging the heterogeneity of the categories, a conceptual framework is developed
by conducting 21 in-depth interviews, from which it emerges that players purchase functional-
based goods, probability-based goods, and ornamental-based goods for different
motives and through the different behavioural processes. First, the purchase of functionalbased
goods is a strategy for entering the flow experience. Second, the purchase of probability-
based goods is a compromise for purchase restrictions. Third, the purchase of ornamental
goods is driven by the synergism of intrinsic motivations and exposure in the virtual
world. Therefore, video game researchers should not treat in-game goods as a homogeneous
concept. The findings also suggest that it is critically important for video game developers
to strike a balance between the challenges of the gameplay and the skills of players
because excessively raising (or lowering) the level of difficulty could pose a threat to the
company¿s sustainable profit. [--]
Materias
Video games,
Qualitative studies
Editor
Public Library of Science
Publicado en
PLoS ONE 17(1): e0262998
Departamento
Universidad Pública de Navarra. Departamento de Gestión de Empresas /
Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa. Enpresen Kudeaketa Saila /
Universidad Pública de Navarra/Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa. Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE
Versión del editor
Entidades Financiadoras
Spanish Ministry of Education and Science [Project number: ECO2015-65393-R and PID2019-108554RB-I00] and the Public University of Navarre.