Why Purchase Premium in Freemium Online Games: The Self Determination Theory Perspective

Abstract

After the rise of the freemium business model, the video games industry emerged as a popular source of entertainment in Malaysia. In this modern free game model, virtual content trading is considered a great source of revenue generation for game developers and publishers. Millions of players around the world participate in this activity and purchase virtual items. In this study, we focus on exploring the motives of Malaysian youth for purchasing these in-game virtual products. By employing purposive sampling, qualitative data were collected by means of conducting in-depth interviews with game players who purchase virtual products. This study explored seven important factors: the desire for uniqueness, the desire for dominance, the desire for skillfulness, social interaction, the desire for freedom, social affiliation, and enjoyment, which strongly influence Malaysian players’ behavior toward in-game content consumption during video game playing. Gamers and game developers can benefit from the findings of the present study to customize the in-game virtual product design strategies as per the expectations of respondents.
 Keywords: free-to-play, video games, freemium, virtual purchasing, purchase intention