Flawless victory! Investigating search and experience qualities as antecedent predictors of video game success

Abstract

In recent years, video games have been on the rise as entertainment goods, leading to a growing interest by practitioners, researchers, and, of course, consumers alike. While a few unusually successful video games produce overall high revenues, most released games struggle to break even. Hence, there is an urgent need to better understand what distinguishes fnancially successful games from nonsuccessful video games. Accordingly, several researchers have called for investigations into the drivers of the fnancial success of video games. However, empirical studies within this respect are still lacking. Based on longitudinal data of 351 video games, the current study strives to fll this research gap by investigating the relative importance of potential success factors for the short-term and long-term fnancial success of video games. The results of multiple regression analyses confrm that search qualities such as brand popularity, reviews, and awards as well as experience qualities such as graphics, sound, and game duration signifcantly drive fnancial success in terms of the total number of sold video games in Europe. Consequently, managers in the video game industry can boost their chances for the production of a successful video game by focusing on these factors.