Zhu, F., Zhang, X. (2010). “Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Sales: The Moderating Role of Product and Consumer Characteristics”. Journal of Marketing, 74(2), pp. 133-148.

Idée / dominante : les reviews publiées en ligne ont plus d’influence sur les ventes des jeux moins populaires et dont le public a une plus grande expérience d’internet.

Résumé : Avant d’acheter un jeu vidéo, les consommateurs font souvent une recherche en ligne pour se renseigner sur la qualité du produit. Les reviews postées par des professionnels ou par d’autres consommateurs ont ainsi une influence sur la décision d’achat des consommateurs.

Cet article étudie ainsi les facteurs influençant la relation entre reviews publiées en ligne et vente des jeux.

Les jeux populaires ont plus de reviews. Or plus l’information est abondante, plus le consommateur a confiance en cette information et la juge crédible. En effet le consommateur utilise les reviews pour diminuer le risque de se tromper en choisissant d’acheter un jeu. Les jeux connus sont présents aussi bien sur des circuits offline et peuvent être abordés lors de discussion avec les amis. Ainsi lorsque le consommateur a le choix entre chercher l’information en ligne ou l’obtenir en demandant à ses amis, il aura tendance à se fier à ces derniers et ne sera pas influencé par les reviews.

Cela n’est pas valable pour les jeux moins populaires pour lesquels les consommateurs ne trouveront pas l’information en dehors d’internet. Afin de minimiser le risque d’achat ils vont donc rechercher l’information en ligne entre autres via les reviews publiées par d’autres consommateurs.

Plus le consommateur a d’expérience sur internet, plus il est susceptible d’utiliser ce media comme première source d’information pour se renseigner sur les produits avant de les acheter. L’internaute expérimenté a plus confiance en internet. Il est donc également plus susceptible d’être influencé par les reviews en ligne. Ces consommateurs qui utilisent internet régulièrement jouent également plus souvent à des jeux en ligne.
L’étude détermine que les reviews en ligne ont plus d’influence sur les jeux moins populaires, dans la mesure où le consommateur ne peut trouver d’autre moyen d’information sur le jeu. Ces jeux de niche représentent une part de plus en plus importante du marché du jeu vidéo. Comme beaucoup de ces produits sont souvent uniquement vendus sur internet, leurs acheteurs potentiels sont plus susceptibles de se fier aux reviews en ligne pour rechercher une information fiable.

Note d’intérêt : Cet article montre l’importance des reviews en ligne pour les jeux peu connus. On y apprend également que les joueurs qui sont les plus influencés par les reviews sont les internautes les plus expérimentés. Les joueurs n’achètent plus les jeux les yeux fermés, ils se renseignent en lisant les articles de la presse spécialisée et les avis des autres joueurs qui ont déjà acheté le jeu pour se faire leurs propres avis. Cela est également valable pour notre sujet, les DLC étant aussi sujets de reviews par la presse et de commentaires en ligne par les joueurs.

Références :

Aiken, Leona S. and Stephen G. West. (1991). Multiple Regression:
Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.

Anderson, Chris. (2006). The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business
Is Selling Less of More. New York: Hyperion.

Anderson, Eugene W. (1998). “Customer Satisfaction and Word of
Mouth,” Journal of Service Research, 1 (1), 5–17.

Arendt, Susan. (2007). “Game Consoles in 41% of Homes,”
(accessed August 1, 2008), [available at http://blog.wired.com/
games/2007/03/game_consoles_i.html].

Argentesi, Elena and Lapo Filistrucchi. (2007). “Estimating Market
Power in a Two-Sided Market: The Case of Newspapers,”
Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22 (7), 1247–66.

Banerjee, Abhijit V. (1992). “A Simple Model of Herd Behavior,”
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107 (3), 797–817.

Bansal, Harvir S. and Peter A. Voyer. (2000). “Word-of-Mouth
Processes Within a Services Purchase Decision Context,” Journal
of Service Research, 3 (2), 166–77.

Bart,Yakov, Venkatesh Shankar, Fareena Sultan, and Glen L. Urban.
(2005). “Are the Drivers and Role of Online Trust the Same for
All Web Sites and Consumers? A Large-Scale Exploratory
Empirical Study,” Journal of Marketing, 69 (October), 133–52.

Bass, Frank M. (1969). “A New Product Growth Model for Consumer
Durables,” Management Science, 15 (5), 215–27.

Basuroy, Suman, Subimal Chatterjee, and S. Abraham Ravid.
(2003). “How Critical Are Critical Reviews? The Box Office
Effects of Film Critics, Star Power, and Budgets,” Journal of
Marketing, 67 (October), 103–117.

Beatty, Sharon E. and Scott M. Smith. (1987). “External Search
Effort: An Investigation Across Several Product Categories,”
Journal of Consumer Research, 14 (1), 83–93.

Berry, Steve. (1994). “Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product
Differentiation,” RAND Journal of Economics, 25 (2), 242–62.

Bikhchandani, Sushil, David Hirshleifer, and Ivo Welch. (1992).
“A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change as
Informational Cascades,” Journal of Political Economy, 100 (5), 992–1026.

Boatwright, Peter H., Wagner Kamakura, and Suman Basuroy.
(2007). “Reviewing the Reviewers: The Impact of Individual
Film Critics on Box Office Performance,” Quantitative Marketing
and Economics, 5 (4), 401–425.

Bolton, Gary E., Elena Katok, and Axel Ockenfels. (2004). “How
Effective Are Electronic Reputation Mechanisms? An Experimental
Investigation,” Management Science, 50 (11),1587–1602.

Bornstein, Robert F. (1989). “Exposure and Affect: Overview and
Meta-Analysis of Research, 1968-1987,” Psychological Bulletin,
106 (2), 265–89.

Bounie, David, Marc Bourreau, Michel Gensollen, and Patrick
Waelbroeck. (2005). “Do Online Customer Reviews Matter?
Evidence from the Video Game Industry,” Telecom ParisTech
Working Paper No. ESS-08-02.

Brown, Jacqueline Johnson and Peter H. Reingen. (1987). “Social
Ties and Word-of-Mouth Referral Behavior,” Journal of Consumer
Research, 14 (3), 350–62.

Brynjolfsson, Erik, Yu Hu, and Duncan Simester. (2005). “Goodbye
Pareto Principle, Hello Long Tail: Modeling and Measuring
the Effect of Search Cost on Product Sales Distribution,”
workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE),
University of California, Irvine (December 10–11).

———, ———, and Michael D. Smith. (2006). “From Niches to
Riches: The Anatomy of the Long Tail,” Sloan Management
Review, 47 (4), 67–71.

——— and Michael D. Smith. (2000). “Frictionless Commerce? A
Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers,” Management
Science, 46 (4), 563–85.

Caminal, Ramon and Xavier Vives. (1996). “Why Market Shares
Matter: An Information-Based Theory,” Rand Journal of Economics,
27 (2), 221–39.

Cardell, Scott N. (1997). “Variance Components Structures for the
Extreme-Value and Logistic Distributions with Application to
Models of Heterogeneity,” Econometric Theory, 13 (2),
185–213.

Chatterjee, Patrali. (2001). “Online Reviews: Do Consumers Use
Them?” in Advances in Consumer Research, Mary C. Gilly
and Joan Myers-Levy, eds. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer
Research, 129–34.

Cheema, Amar and Purushottam Papatla. (2010). “Relative Importance
of Online Versus Offline Information for Internet Purchases:
The Effect of Product Category and Internet Experience,”
Journal of Business Research, forthcoming.

Chen, Jianqing, Hong Xu, and Andrew B. Whinston. (2009).
“Moderated Online Communities and User-Generated Content,”
NET Institute Working Paper No. 09-11, (accessed January
4, 2010), [available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1481772].

Chen, Pei-Yu, Shin-YiWu, and JungsunYoon. (2004). “The Impact
of Online Recommendations and Consumer Feedback on
Sales,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on
Information Systems, ICIS 2004. Seattle: Association for Information
Systems, 711–24.

Chen, Yubo and Jinghong Xie. (2005). “Third-Party Product
Review and Firm Marketing Strategy,” Marketing Science, 24
(2), 218–40.

Chevalier, Judith A. and Dina Mayzlin. (2006). “The Effect of
Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews,” Journal of
Marketing Research, 43 (August), 345–54.

Clements, Matthew T. and Hiroshi Ohashi. (2005). “Indirect Network
Effects and the Product Cycle: Video Games in the U.S.,
1994-2002,” Journal of Industrial Economics, 53 (4), 515–42.

Clemons, Eric K., Guodong Gao, and Lorin M. Hitt. (2006).
“When Online Reviews Meet Hyperdifferentiation: A Study of
the Craft Beer Industry,” Journal of Management Information
Systems, 23 (2), 149–71.

ComScore. (2007). “Online Consumer-Generated Reviews Have
Significant Impact on Offline Purchase Behavior,” press
release, (November 29), (accessed August 2008), [available at
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1928].

Cook, Don Lloyd and Eloise Coupey. (1998). “Consumer Behavior
and Unresolved Regulatory Issues in Electronic Marketing,”
Journal of Business Research, 41 (3), 231–38.

Dellarocas, Chrysanthos. (2003). “The Digitization of Word of
Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms,”
Management Science, 49 (10), 1401–1424.

——— (2006). “Strategic Manipulation of Internet Opinion
Forums: Implications for Consumers and Firms,” Management
Science, 52 (10), 1577–93.

———, Xiaoquan M. Zhang, and Neveen Awad. (2007). “Exploring
the Value of Online Product Reviews in Forecasting Sales:
The Case of Motion Pictures,” Journal of Interactive Marketing,
21 (4), 23–45.

DeSarbo, Wayne S., Juyoung Kim, S. Chan Choi, and Melinda
Spaulding. (2002). “A Gravity-Based Multidimensional Scaling
Model for Deriving Spatial Structures Underlying Consumer
Preference/Choice Judgments,” Journal of Consumer Research,
29 (1), 91–100.

Duan, Wenjing, Bin Gu, and Andrew B. Whinston. (2008). “Do
Online Reviews Matter? An Empirical Investigation of Panel
Data,” Decision Support Systems, 45 (4), 1007–1016.

Dubé, Jean-Pierre. (2004). “Multiple Discreteness and Product Differentiation:
Demand for Carbonated Soft Drinks,” Marketing Science, 23 (1), 66–81.

Edge. (2005). “Report: Only 80 Games a Year Will Succeed,”
(November 16), (accessed November 19, 2009), [available at
http://www.edge-online.com/news/report-only-80-games-ayear-
will-succeed].

Einav, Liran. (2007). “Seasonality in the U.S. Motion Picture
Industry,” RAND Journal of Economics, 38 (1), 127–45.

Elberse, Anita. (2008). “ShouldYou Invest in the Long Tail?” Harvard
Business Review, 86 (July–August), 88–96.

——— and Jehoshua Eliashberg. (2003). “Demand and Supply
Dynamics for Sequentially Released Products in International
Markets: The Case of Motion Pictures,” Marketing Science, 22
(3), 329–54.

——— and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. (2006). “Superstars and Underdogs:
An Examination of the Long Tail Phenomenon in Video
Sales,” Harvard Business School Working Paper Series, No.
07-015.

Eliashberg, Jehoshua and Steven M. Shugan. (1997). “Film Critics:
Influencers or Predictors?” Journal of Marketing, 61 (April), 68–78.

The Entertainment Software Association. (2007). Video Games &
the Economy, (accessed December 2009), [available at
http://www.theesa.com/gamesindailylife/economy.asp].

Forsyth, Sandra M. and Bo Shi. (2003). “Consumer Patronage and
Risk Perceptions in Internet Shopping,” Journal of Business Research, 56 (11), 867–75.

Frambach, Ruud T., Henk C.A. Roest, and Trichy V. Krishnan.
(2007). “The Impact of Consumer Internet Experience on
Channel Preference and Usage Intentions Across the Different
Stages of the Buying Process,” Journal of Interactive Marketing,
21 (2), 26–41.

GameZone. (2004). “ESPN Videogames Sweeps Gamespot Game
Commercial Awards,” (February 17), (accessed August 2008),
[available at http://www.gamezone.com/news/02_17_04_12_
27PM.htm].

Godes, David and Dina Mayzlin. (2004). “Using Online Conversations
to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication,” Marketing Science, 23 (4), 545–60.

Goodwin, Steven. (2005). Cross-Platform Game Programming.
Boston: Charles River Media.

Granovetter, Mark. (1973). “The Strength of Weak Ties,” American
Journal of Sociology, 78 (6), 1360–80.

Hansen, Flemming. (1976). “Psychological Theories of Consumer
Choice,” Journal of Consumer Research, 3 (3), 117–42.

Harmon, Amy. (2004). “Amazon Glitch Unmasks War of Reviewers,”
The New York Times, (February 14), (accessed November
12, 2009), [available at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/14/
technology/14AMAZ.html].

Hellofs, Linda L. and Robert Jacobson. (1999). “Market Share and
Customers’ Perceptions of Quality: When Can Firms Grow
Their Way to Higher Versus Lower Quality?” Journal of Marketing,
63 (January), 16–25.

Hendel, Igal. (1999). “Estimating Multiple-Discrete Choice Models:
An Application to Computerization Returns,” Review of
Economic Studies, 66 (2), 423–46.

——— and Aviv Nevo. (2006). “Measuring the Implications of
Sales and Consumer Inventory Behavior,” Econometrica, 74
(6), 1637–73.

Holbrook, Morris B. (1999). “Popular Appeal Versus Expert Judgments
of Motion Pictures,” Journal of Consumer Research, 26
(2), 144–55.

Janiszewski, Chris. (1993). “Preattentive Mere Exposure Effects,”
Journal of Consumer Research, 20 (3), 376–92.

Josephs, Robert A., Richard P. Larrick, Claude M. Steele, and
Richard E. Nisbett. (1992). “Protecting the Self from the Negative Consequences of Risky Decisions,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62 (1), 26–37.

Keeney, Ralph L. (1999). “The Value of Internet Commerce to the
Customer,” Management Science, 45 (4), 533–42.

Kehoe, Colleen, Jim Pitkow, Kate Sutton, Gaurav Aggarwal, and
Juan D. Rogers. (1999). “Results of GVU’s Tenth World Wide
Web User Survey,” technical report, Graphics Visualization and
Usability Center, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of
Technology.

Kirby, Carrie. (2000). “Everyone’s a Critic:Web Sites Hope Online
Reviews of Products Lead to Online Buying,” San Francisco
Chronicle, (January 22), E1.

Klein, Lisa R. and Gary T. Ford. (2003). “Consumer Search for
Information in the Digital Age: An Empirical Study of Pre-
Purchase Search for Automobiles,” Journal of Interactive Marketing,
17 (3), 29–49.

Lazonder, Ard W., Harm J.A. Biemans, and Iwan G.J.H. Wopereis.
(2000). “Differences Between Novice and Experienced Users
in Searching Information on the World Wide Web,” Journal of
the American Society for Information Science, 51 (6), 576–81.

Li, Xinxin and Lorin M. Hitt. (2008). “Self Selection and Information
Role of Online Product Reviews,” Information Systems Research, 19 (4), 456–74.

Litman, Barry R. (1983). “Predicting the Success of Theatrical
Movies: An Empirical Study,” Journal of Popular Culture, 16 (4), 159–75.

Liu, Yong. (2006). “Word of Mouth for Movies: Its Dynamics and
Impact on Box Office Revenue,” Journal of Marketing, 70 (July), 74–89.

Lo, Shao-Kang, Chih-Chien Wang, and Wenchang Fang. (2005).
“Physical Interpersonal Relationships and Social Anxiety
Among Online Game Players,” CyberPsychology & Behavior,
8 (1), 15–20.

Mahajan, Vijay, Eitan Muller, and Roger A. Kerin. (1984). “Introduction
Strategy for New Products with Positive and Negative
Word-of-Mouth,” Management Science, 30 (12), 1389–1404.

Martin, Jolie M., Gregory M. Barron, and Michael I. Norton.
(2008). “Variance-Seeking for Positive (and Variance-Aversion
for Negative) Experiences: Risk-Seeking in the Domain of
Gains?” Harvard Business School Working Paper Series, No.
08-070.

Mayzlin, Dina. (2006). “Promotional Chat on the Internet,” Marketing
Science, 25 (2), 155–63.

Mesch, Gustavo and Ilan Talmud. (2006). “The Quality of Online
and Offline Relationships: The Role of Multiplexity and Duration
of Social Relationships,” The Information Society, 22 (3),
137–48.

Meyer, Bruce. (1995). “Natural and Quasi-Natural Experiments in
Economics,” Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 13 (2), 151–62.

Nair, Harikesh. (2007). “Intertemporal Price Discrimination with
Forward-Looking Consumers: Application to the US Market
for Console Video-Games,” Quantitative Marketing and Economics,
5 (3), 239–92.

———, Pradeep Chintagunta, and Jean-Pierre Dubé. (2004).
“Empirical Analysis of Indirect Network Effects in the Market
for Personal Digital Assistants,” Quantitative Marketing and
Economics, 2 (1), 23–58.

Nelson, Philip. (1970). “Information and Consumer Behavior,”
Journal of Political Economy, 78 (2), 311–29.

Novotny, Eric. (2004). “I Don’t Think I Click: A Protocol Analysis
Study of Use of a Library Online Catalog in the Internet Age,”
College & Research Libraries, 65 (6), 525–37.

Palmquist, Ruth A. and Kyung-Sun Kim. (2000). “Cognitive Style
and Online Database Search Experience as Predictors of Web
Search Performance,” Journal of the American Society for
Information Science, 51 (6), 558–66.

Pavlou, Paul A. and David Gefen. (2004). “Building Effective
Online Marketplaces with Institution-Based Trust,” Information
Systems Research, 15 (1), 37–59.

Pidgeon, Billy and David Hu. (2003). “U.S. Console Gamers Survey:
Consumer Interest Justifies Online Initiatives,” Zelos
Group report, (accessed November 23, 2009), [available at
http://www.zelosgroup.com].

Reddy, Srinivas K., Vanitha Swaminathan, and Carol M. Motley.
(1998). “Exploring the Determinants of Broadway Show Success,”
Journal of Marketing Research, 35 (August), 370–83.

Reimer, Jeremy. (2005). “Cross-Platform Game Development and
the Next Generation of Consoles,” (November 7), (accessed
November 23, 2009), [available at http://arstechnica.com/old/
content/2005/11/crossplatform.ars].

Reinstein, David A. and Christopher M. Snyder. (2005). “The
Influence of Expert Reviews on Consumer Demand for Experience
Goods: A Case Study of Movie Critics,” Journal of Industrial
Economics, 53 (1), 27–50.

Resnick, Paul and Richard Zeckhauser. (2002). “Trust Among
Strangers in Internet Transactions: Empirical Analysis of
eBay’s Reputation System,” in The Economics of the Internet
and E-Commerce, Advances in Applied Microeconomics, Vol.
11, Michael R. Bay, ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 127–57.

Rust, Roland T. and Tuck S. Chung. (2006). “Marketing Models of
Service and Relationships,” Marketing Science, 25 (6), 560–80.

Rysman, Marc. (2004). “Competition Between Networks: A Study
of the Market for Yellow Pages,” Review of Economic Studies,
71 (2), 483–512.

Sawhney, Mohanbir S. and Joheshua Eliashberg. (1996). “A Parsimonious
Model for Forecasting Gross Box Office Revenues of
Motion Pictures,” Marketing Science, 15 (2), 321–40.

Senecal, Sylvain and Jacques Nantel. (2004). “The Influence of
Online Product Recommendations on Consumers’ Online
Choices,” Journal of Retailing, 80 (2), 159–69.

Sethuraman, Raj and Gerard J. Tellis. (1991). “An Analysis of the
Tradeoff Between Advertising and Pricing,” Journal of Marketing
Research, 31 (May), 160–74.

Simonson, Itamar. (1992). “The Influence of Anticipating Regret
and Responsibility on Purchase Decisions,” Journal of Consumer
Research, 19 (1), 105–118.

Sun, Monic. (2008). “How Does Variance of Product Ratings Matter?”
working paper, Graduate School of Business, Stanford
University.

Thorsen, Tor. (2008). “NPD: 2007 Game Earnings Nearly $18 Billion,
Halo 3 Sells 4.82 Million,” (accessed August 1, 2008),
[available at http://www.gamespot.com/news/6184847.html].

Wallace, W. Timothy, Alan Seigerman, and Morris B. Holbrook.
(1993). “The Role of Actors and Actresses in the Success of
Films: How Much Is a Movie StarWorth?” Journal of Cultural
Economics, 17 (1), 1–27.

Weiser, Eric B. (2000). “Gender Differences in Internet Use Patterns
and Internet Application Preferences: A Two-Sample
Comparison,” CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3 (2), 167–78.

Westbrook, Robert A. and Claes Fornell. (1979). “Patterns of Information
Source Usage Among Durable Goods Buyers,” Journal
of Marketing Research, 16 (August), 303–312.

Zajonc, Robert B. (1980). “Feeling and Thinking: Preferences
Need No Inference,” American Psychologist, 35 (2), 151–71.

Zeelenberga, Marcel and Jane Beattieb. (1997). “Consequences of
Regret Aversion 2: Additional Evidence for Effects of Feedback
on Decision Making,” Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes, 72 (1), 63–78.

———, ———, Joop van der Pligta, and Nanne K. de Vriesa.
(1996). “Consequences of Regret Aversion: Effects of Expected
Feedback on Risky Decision Making,” Organizational Behavior
and Human Decision Processes, 65 (2), 148–58.

Zhang, Xiaoquan M. and Chris Dellarocas. (2006). “The Lord of
the Ratings: How a Movie’s Fate Is Influenced by Reviews,” in
Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Information
Systems (ICIS). Milwaukee: Association for Information
Systems.

Zhu, Feng and Marco Iansiti. (2009). “Entry into Platform-Based
Markets,” working paper, Marshall School of Business, University
of Southern California, (accessed January 4, 2010),
[available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1350233].

Wu, C-C., Chen, Y-J., Cho, Y-J. (2013). “Nested Network Effects in Online Free Game with Accessory Selling”. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27, pp. 158-171

Idée / Dominante : Pour maximiser les profits, les éditeurs doivent privilégier les objets virtuels décoratifs aux armes qui menacent l’équilibre du jeu.

Résumé : Cet article étudie le business model des free-to-play, jeux dans lesquels les joueurs ne payent pas d’abonnement mais dont les profits dépendent de la vente de biens virtuels.

Les jeux en ligne fonctionnent selon un modèle de réseau imbriqué. Deux réseaux de joueurs composent le jeu : ceux qui ne payent rien et ceux qui achètent des biens virtuels. Les acheteurs d’accessoires sont un segment intégré à l’ensemble des joueurs. Ces deux réseaux sont en contact l’un avec l’autre et s’influencent mutuellement. La valeur du réseau dépend du nombre de joueurs qui le compose.

Un produit possède un effet de réseau lorsque sa valeur perçue dépend du nombre total d’utilisateurs ou d’utilisations du produit. Plus le jeu a de joueurs, plus son effet de réseau est important.

Les auteurs distinguent deux types d’accessoires : les armes et les objets décoratifs. Les armes ont une influence sur les performances du joueur dans le cadre du jeu. Elles représentent par conséquent une menace pour les joueurs jouant gratuitement et peuvent limiter la croissance du jeu. Les objets décoratifs (vêtements, véhicules, animaux…) n’ont cependant pas d’effet de réseau négatif sur le jeu. Ils peuvent donc être vendus plus chers et sont plus efficaces pour maximiser le profit.

L’étude détermine que proposer le jeu gratuitement est une stratégie de maximisation du profit efficace lorsque l’effet de réseau positif du jeu est important et l’effet de réseau négatif des accessoires est faible. L’effet de réseau négatif des accessoires peut être limité en augmentant la diversité des accessoires, en privilégiant les objets décoratifs et en proposant les armes à un prix inférieur à ces objets décoratifs.

Note d’intérêt : Le modèle du réseau imbriqué s’applique également dans le cadre de notre étude. On peut distinguer deux types de joueurs : ceux qui achètent seulement le jeu et ceux qui achètent le jeu ainsi que les DLC. Dans certains jeux payants dotés d’un mode online, ces deux segments de joueurs sont aussi en contact et s’influencent mutuellement.

La notion d’effet de réseau est pertinente pour notre étude dans la mesure où le DLC est un contenu pouvant perturber l’équilibre du jeu entre joueurs et acheteurs de DLC. La valeur perçue du DLC dépend du nombre d’utilisateurs. L’effet de réseau a une influence sur l’adoption par le consommateur de ce type de contenu.

Le modèle du réseau imbriqué est donc à prendre en compte dans notre étude, il nous faudra voir dans quelle mesure il s’applique aux DLC, sachant qu’à la différence des free-to-play, les joueurs que nous étudions ont déjà acheté le jeu et le DLC représente un achat supplémentaire. Le fait qu’une partie des joueurs a fait le choix d’acheter un DLC influence-t-elle la décision d’achat des autres qui ne l’ont pas fait ? La valeur d’un DLC est-elle perçue également selon le nombre d’utilisateurs qui l’ont acheté ?

La distinction entre contenus ayant une véritable influence sur les performances du joueur et simples contenus décoratifs sera prise en compte dans notre étude exploratoire.

Références :

Amit, R. and C. Zott (2001), “Value Creation in E-business,” Strategic
Management Journal, 22, 6–7, 493–520.

Anderson, C. (2009), Free: the Future of Radical Price. New York: Hyperion.
Arthur, B. (1990), “Positive Feedbacks in the Economy,” Scientific American,
262, 92–9.

———(1996), “Increasing Returns and the New World of Business,” Harvard
Business Review, 74, 7, 100–11.

Besen, S. and J. Farrell (1994), “Choosing How to Compete: Strategies and Tactics
in Standardization,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8, 2, 117–31.

Brandenburger, A.M. and B.J. Nalebuff (1996), Co-opetition. New York:
Doubleday.

Caillaud, B. and B. Jullien (2003), “Chicken & Egg: Competition Among
Intermediation Service Providers,” The Rand Journal of Economics, 34, 2,
309–28.

Cao, Y. and J.D. Downing (2008), “The Realities of Virtual Play: Video Games
and their Industry in China,” Media, Culture & Society, 30, 4, 515–29.

Dejwakh, V. (2010), “Virtual Goods in Social Networking and Online
Gaming,” Technical report, In-Depth Analysis, In-Stat.

Ducheneaut, N. and R. Moore (2004), “The Social Side of Gaming: A Study of
Interaction Patterns in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game,” Proceedings
of the 2004 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work.
ACM. 360–9.

Economides, N. (1996), “The Economics of Networks,” International Journal
of Industrial Organization, 14, 6, 673–99.

Eisenmann, T., G. Parker, and M. Van Alstyne (2006), “Strategies for Two sided
Markets,” Harvard Business Review, 84, 10, 92–101.

Farrell, J. and G. Saloner (1985), “Standardization, Compatibility, and
Innovation,” The Rand Journal of Economics, 16, 1, 70–83.

———, H. Monroe, and G. Saloner (1998), “The Vertical Organization of
Industry: Systems Competition Versus Component Competition,” Journal
of Economics and Management Strategy, 7, 2, 143–82.

Hagiu, A. (2007), “Merchant or Two-sided Platform?,” Review of Network
Economics, 6, 2, 115–33.

Helef, M. (2010). Virtual Goods Expected to Grow by 40 Percent Next Year.
New York Times September 28, 2010

Katz, M. and C. Shapiro (1985), “Network Externalities, Competition, and
Compatibility,” The American Economic Review, 75, 3, 424–40.

———and———(1986a), “Technology Adoption in the Presence of Network
Externalities,” Journal of Political Economy, 94, 4, 822–41.

———and ———(1986b), “Product Compatibility Choice in a Market with
Technological Progress,” Oxford Economic Papers, 38, 146–65.

Lehdonvirta, V. (2009), “Virtual Item Sales as a Revenue Model: Identifying
Attributes That Drive Purchase Decisions,” Electronic Commerce Research,
9, 97–113.

Liebowitz, S. and S. Margolis (1994), “Network Externality: An Uncommon
Tragedy,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8, 2, 133–50.

MacInnes, I. and L. Hu (2007), “Business Models and Operational Issues in the
Chinese Online Game Industry,” Telematics and Informatics, 24, 2,
130–44.

Mack, C. (2009). “TenCent Reaches New Heights in Virtual Good Sales,”
Inside Network, March 31, 2009.

Magretta, J. (2002), “Why Business Models Matter,” Harvard Business Review,
80, 5, 86–93.

Matutes, C. and P. Regibeau (1988), “Mix And Match: Product Compatibility
Without Network Externalities,” The Rand Journal of Economics, 19, 2,
221–34.

Metcalfe, B. (1995), Metcalfe’s Law. InfoWorld, 17(40)53.

Nojima, M. (2007), “Pricing Models and Motivations for MMO Play,”
Proceedings of DiGRA 2007, 672–81.

Oh, G. and T. Ryu (2007), “Game Design on Item-selling Based Payment
Model in Korean Online Games,” Proceedings of DiGRA 2007. 650–7.

Parker, G. and M. Van Alstyne (2005), “Two-sided Network Effects: A Theory
of Information Product Design,” Management Science, 51, 10, 1494–504.

Porter, M.E. (1980), Competitive Strategy. New York: The Free Press.
Rochet, J. and J. Tirole (2003), “Platform Competition in Two-sided Markets,”
Journal of the European Economic Association, 1, 4, 990–1029.

——— and J. Tirole (2006), “Two-sided Markets: A Progress Report,” The
Rand Journal of Economics, 37, 3, 645–67.

Roson, R. (2005), “Two-sided Markets: A Tentative Survey,” Review of
Network Economics, 4, 2, 142–60.

Saloner, G. (1991), “Modeling, Game Theory, and Strategic Management,”
Strategic Management Journal, 12, 2, 119–36.

Shapiro, C. (1989), “The Theory of Business Strategy,” The Rand Journal of
Economics, 20, 1, 125–37.

Shy, O. (2011), “A Short Survey of Network Economics,” Review of Industrial
Organization, 38, 2, 119–49.

Sun, B., J. Xie, and H.H. Cao (2004), “Product Strategy for Innovators in
Markets with Network Effects,” Marketing Science, 23, 2, 243–54.

Suznjevic, M. and M. Matijasevic (2010), “Why MMORPG Players Do What
They Do: Relating Motivations to Action Categories,” International
Journal of Advanced Media and Communication, 4, 4.

Szell, M. and S. Thurner (2009), “Measuring Social Dynamics in a Massive
Multiplayer Online Game,” Social Networks, 32, 4, 313–29.

Yee, N. (2005), “Motivations of Play in MMORPGs,” Proceedings of DiGRA
2005. Citeseer.

——— (2006), “Motivations for Play in Online Games,” Cyberpsychology &
Behavior, 9, 6, 772–5.

Zhang, M., R. Tote, J. Gage, and M. Vorhaus (2010), “2nd Annual Survey on
Virtual Goods Market Penetration and Growth in North America,”
Technical Report. (Frank N. Magid Associates).