Game designs’ influence on purchase motivations in call of duty: Warzone

Abstract

Objectives The main objectives of this study were to understand the elements of game design that affect the purchases of non-functional in-game content. An additional objective was to focus on the Games-as-a-service business model and how its structure influenced game design.

Summary Games-as-a-service games have become increasingly popular within the video game industry, with one example of this being the battle royale game Call of Duty: Warzone. Research has been completed on various aspects of the industry, but not much research has been conducted on the design of games that utilize the Games-as-a-service model. Interviews based on Hamari’s (2015) research model were held to examine purchase influences in players. Results indicated that factors such as enjoyment of the core service, continuous use intentions of the core service, attitudes towards microtransactions, and subjective norms towards microtransactions all played a role when discussing game design's influence on purchase motivation.

Conclusions Design elements utilized in how content is offered were the most significant factor in game design's influence on purchases, primarily through the creation of artificial scarcity and limited promotion of content. However, design elements, such as the design of the content itself was also considered to influence purchases.