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ABSTRACT
Online gaming continues to grow exponentially, and Pokémon Go has been among the most popular mobile games since its launch in 2016. Media attention on the game has been immense, with particular focus on two of its key aspects: augmented reality and location-based gaming. The incorporation of new technologies into mobile devices to create enhanced gaming environments has transformed traditional gaming behavior and expectations. By applying activity theory, we determined that context facilitation and intrinsic motivation influence players' situational engagement in the creation of player value in online gaming. We gathered 479 valid survey responses from experienced Pokémon Go players for use as empirical data to test this study's hypotheses. The empirical results revealed that 1) context facilitation and intrinsic motivation have direct effects on situational engagement, 2) situational engagement has a direct effect on player value, and 3) situational engagement partially mediates the effects of context facilitation and intrinsic motivation on player value.
Keywords: Pokémon GO; Augmented reality; Context facilitation; Situational engagement; Activity theory
1.Introduction
Online gaming has increasingly become a prevalent form of relaxation. The playing of games involves various contexts and situations, and players benefit from enioyable and diverse experiences for themselves and for others (Hassan and Hamari, 2020; Rapp, 2020). In 2020, online gaming sales reached an estimated US$173.7 billion, and they are predicted to grow to US$314.4 billion by 2026. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in national lockdowns worldwide, forcing people to stay at home in substantial numbers and resulting in increased participation in online gaming (Gaming Market, 2021). The popularity of mobile gaming has increased as technology has evolved, and several key events (e.g. the advent of in-app purchases in 2009) have fueled demand (Wang et al., 2020). Marketing professionals refer to the advent of in-app purchases in 2009 as a pivotal moment in the development of the mobile gaming industry. Mobile games account for 51% of the digital gaming market, which has been forecast to grow 6.1% year on year on 2021 (Purnami and Agus, 2021). The video game company Zynga posted record revenue of US$328 million from mobile games, accounting for 95% of their annual revenue (Palomba, 2020). Niantic Inc.'s location-based augmented reality (AR) mobile game Pokémon Go has passed US$4 billion in total...