1Research Scholar, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, K.R, Mangalam University, Sohna Road, Gurugram, Haryana, India
2Professor and Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Faculty of Media Studies and Humanities, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, Faridabad
The online gaming industry, the fourth largest segment in India’s media and entertainment industry, has been growing at an exponential rate. With 420 million-plus active gamers, India is among the top three nations in the online gaming business. Despite its growing popularity, there is a lack of rigorous academic research to examine reasons for customer stickiness towards gaming platforms.
Research has employed quota sampling, at least 400 respondents each from five Indian metros - Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru - were selected for the survey. Respondents were administered a questionnaire with close-ended questions. Data was collected by Computer Aided Personal Interview (CAPI) method. For this quantitative research, statistical tools like Weight of Evidence and Information Value helped identify the strongest factors that influence customer stickiness.
Features like playing with stakes, having subscriptions and quality and quantity of gamers emerged as some of the significant factors that determine the degree of a customer’s loyalty towards a platform.
This study, for the first time, provides insights to platform owners whose monetization models and customer retention plans can be structured around the findings of this paper.
Online Gaming, Real money gaming, Stickiness of Gaming Platforms, Sports economics, Media and entertainment, Information Value
