Behind the Prosperity of the Video Game Industry: The Social Impacts and the Selling Strategies
Date
2020-05-06
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Abstract
The video game industry has become the most profitable form of entertainment since 2018. Despite the prosperity, probably few people could tell exactly what the social impacts of video games are and how video games generate profit. This thesis consists of a theoretical analysis of the social impacts of video games, a general introduction of the economic structures, and an empirical survey about consumers’ behaviors under the selling strategies. Through an economic and psychological examination, it is clear that the assumed causal relationship between video games and violent crimes is unreliable and video games are valuable tools to society and individuals. Few people know the economic differences between Pay-to-Play games (P2P) and Free-to-Play games (F2P) as well as the selling strategies adopted by game developers. Thus, this thesis provides an introduction to P2P games, F2P games, and the selling strategies behind them. This thesis also offers an answer to whether those strategies are efficient by analyzing consumers’ behaviors in the Chinese market.
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Consumers' behaviors, Video game industry, Free-to-Play games