How Social Influence and Hedonic/Utilitarian Outcome Expectations Affect Continuance Intention to Play Online Games

While online gaming has become immensely popular today, game developers and marketers face stiff competition. For gaming industries to remain profitable despite high development costs, they must promote players' continuance intention to play online games to accrue revenues via advertisement, subscription, and microtransactions. Drawing on the Social Cognitive Theory, the present research examines how social influence (Critical Mass and Subjective Norm) and personal cognition (Hedonic Outcome Expectations and Utilitarian Outcome Expectations) affect the continuance intention to play online games. Based on 150 valid responses from online gamers in Malaysia, the PLS-SEM analysis reveals that Hedonic Outcome Expectations and Utilitarian Outcome Expectations drive continuance intention to play online games. Continuance intention to play online games is not influenced by Critical Mass and Subjective Norm. Implications for research, game designers, and game marketers are discussed in this paper.