Player-vs.-Player Game Design and Pricing: A Tournament Design Perspective

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2023.0258

References

  • Aral S, Dhillon PS (2021) Digital paywall design: Implications for content demand and subscriptions. Management Sci. 67(4):2381–2402.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Bakos Y, Brynjolfsson E (1999) Bundling information goods: Pricing, profits, and efficiency. Management Sci. 45(12):1613–1630.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Bhargava HK, Choudhary V (2008) Research note: When is versioning optimal for information goods? Management Sci. 54(5):1029–1035.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Che YK, Gale IL (1998) Caps on political lobbying. Amer. Econom. Rev. 88(3):643–651.Google Scholar
  • Chellappa RK, Shivendu S (2005) Managing piracy: Pricing and sampling strategies for digital experience goods in vertically segmented markets. Inform. Systems Res. 16(4):400–417.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Chen M, Elmachtoub AN, Lei X (2022) Matchmaking strategies for maximizing player engagement in video games. Proc. 23rd ACM Conf. Econom. Comput. (ACM, New York), 1040.Google Scholar
  • Cheng HK, Liu Y (2012) Optimal software free trial strategy: The impact of network externalities and consumer uncertainty. Inform. Systems Res. 23(2):488–504.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Cheng HK, Li S, Liu Y (2015) Optimal software free trial strategy: Limited version, time-locked, or hybrid? Production Oper. Management 24(3):504–517.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Choudhary V (2010) Use of pricing schemes for differentiating information goods. Inform. Systems Res. 21(1):78–92.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Desai PS (2001) Quality segmentation in spatial markets: When does cannibalization affect product line design? Marketing Sci. 20(3):265–283.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Dey D, Lahiri A, Liu D (2013) Consumer learning and time-locked trials of software products. J. Management Inform. Systems 30(2):239–268.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Divers G (2023) Gaming industry dominates as the highest-grossing entertainment industry. Gamerhub (January 24), https://gamerhub.co.uk/gaming-industry-dominates-as-the-highest-grossing-entertainment-industry/.Google Scholar
  • Dou Y, Niculescu MF, Wu DJ (2013) Engineering optimal network effects via social media features and seeding in markets for digital goods and services. Inform. Systems Res. 24(1):164–185.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Drugov M, Ryvkin D (2017) Biased contests for symmetric players. Games Econom. Behav. 103:116–144.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ekroslim (2024) Free champion rotation. Accessed July 30, 2024, https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Free_champion_rotation.Google Scholar
  • Epstein GS, Mealem Y, Nitzan S (2011) Political culture and discrimination in contests. J. Public Econom. 95(1):88–93.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Etzion H, Pang MS (2014) Complementary online services in competitive markets: Maintaining profitability in the presence of network effects. MIS Quart. 38(1):231–248.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Franke J, Kanzow C, Leininger W, Schwartz A (2013) Effort maximization in asymmetric contest games with heterogeneous contestants. Econom. Theory 52(2):589–630.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Franke J, Kanzow C, Leininger W, Schwartz A (2014) Lottery vs. all-pay auction contests: A revenue dominance theorem. Games Econom. Behav. 83:116–126.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Fu Q, Wu Z (2020) On the optimal design of biased contests. Theoret. Econom. 15(4):1435–1470.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Fu Q, Wu Z, Zhu Y (2023) Bid caps in noisy contests. Amer. Econom. J. Microeconomics 15(3):426–473.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Fudenberg D, Tirole J (2000) Pricing a network good to deter entry. J. Indust. Econom. 48(4):373–390.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gallaugher JM, Auger P, BarNir A (2001) Revenue streams and digital content providers: An empirical investigation. Inform. Management 38(7):473–485.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gavious A, Moldovanu B, Sela A (2002) Bid costs and endogenous bid caps. RAND J. Econom. 33(4):709–722.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gu X, Kannan P, Ma L (2018) Selling the premium in freemium. J. Marketing 82(6):10–27.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Guo H, Hao L, Mukhopadhyay T, Sun D (2019) Selling virtual currency in digital games: Implications for gameplay and social welfare. Inform. Systems Res. 30(2):430–446.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Hadji-Vasilev A (2023) 23 online gaming statistics, facts & trends for 2023. Cloudwards.net. Accessed July 30, 2024, https://www.cloudwards.net/online-gaming-statistics/.Google Scholar
  • Jing B (2007) Network externalities and market segmentation in a monopoly. Econom. Lett. 95(1):7–13.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Jones R, Mendelson H (2011) Information goods vs. industrial goods: Cost structure and competition. Management Sci. 57(1):164–176.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Kamada Y, Öry A (2020) Contracting with word-of-mouth management. Management Sci. 66(11):5094–5107.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Katz ML, Shapiro C (1985) Network externalities, competition, and compatibility. Amer. Econom. Rev. 75(3):424–440.Google Scholar
  • Kirkegaard R (2012) Favoritism in asymmetric contests: Head starts and handicaps. Games Econom. Behav. 76(1):226–248.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kumar V (2014) Making “freemium” work. Harvard Bus. Rev. 92(5):27–29.Google Scholar
  • Lahiri A, Dey D (2018) Versioning and information dissemination: A new perspective. Inform. Systems Res. 29(4):965–983.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Lazear E, Rosen S (1981) Rank-order tournaments as optimum labor contracts. J. Political Econom. 89(5):841–864.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lelonek-Kuleta B, Bartczuk RP, Wiechetek M (2021) Pay for play—Behavioural patterns of pay-to-win gaming. Comput. Human Behav. 115:106592.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Liu CZ, Au YA, Choi HS (2014) Effects of freemium strategy in the mobile app market: An empirical study of Google Play. J. Management Inform. Systems 31(3):326–354.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Liu D, Geng X, Whinston AB (2007) Optimal design of consumer contests. J. Marketing 71(4):140–155.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Liu D, Li X, Santhanam R (2013) Digital games and beyond: What happens when players compete? MIS Quart. 37(1):111–124.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Mai Y, Hu B (2023) Optimizing free-to-play multiplayer games with premium subscription. Management Sci. 69(6):3437–3456.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Maskin E, Riley J (1984) Monopoly with incomplete information. RAND J. Econom. 15(2):171–196.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Meng Z, Hao L, Tan Y (2021) Freemium pricing in digital games with virtual currency. Inform. Systems Res. 32(2):481–496.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Moorthy KS (1984) Market segmentation, self-selection, and product line design. Marketing Sci. 3(4):288–307.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Moorthy KS, Png IP (1992) Market segmentation, cannibalization, and the timing of product introductions. Management Sci. 38(3):345–359.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Mussa M, Rosen S (1978) Monopoly and product quality. J. Econom. Theory 18(2):301–317.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Niculescu MF, Wu DJ (2014) Economics of free under perpetual licensing: Implications for the software industry. Inform. Systems Res. 25(1):173–199.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Nikolakaki SM, Dibie O, Beirami A, Peterson N, Aghdaie N, Zaman K (2020) Competitive balance in team sports games. IEEE Conf. Games (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway, NJ), 526–533.Google Scholar
  • NPD (2021) Time spent playing video games continues to rise. Marketing Charts (October 26), https://www.marketingcharts.com/demographics-and-audiences-118663.Google Scholar
  • Olszewski W, Siegel R (2019) Bid caps in large contests. Games Econom. Behav. 115:101–112.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pattabhiramaiah A, Overby E, Xu L (2022) Spillovers from online engagement: How a newspaper subscriber s activation of digital paywall access affects her retention and subscription revenue. Management Sci. 68(5):3528–3548.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Prasad A, Venkatesh R, Mahajan V (2010) Optimal bundling of technological products with network externality. Management Sci. 56(12):2224–2236.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Salehudin I, Alpert F (2022) To pay or not to pay: Understanding mobile game app users’ unwillingness to pay for in-app purchases. J. Res. Interactive Marketing 16(4):633–647.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Shapiro C, Varian HR (1999) Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy (Harvard Business Press, Boston).Google Scholar
  • Shi ZJ, Zhang K, Srinivasan K (2019) Freemium as an optimal strategy for market dominant firms. Marketing Sci. 38(1):150–169.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Shivendu S, Zhang Z (2015) Versioning in the software industry: Heterogeneous disutility from underprovisioning of functionality. Inform. Systems Res. 26(4):731–753.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Sinclair B (2014) Only 2.2% of free-to-play users ever pay. GamesIndustry.biz (April 9), https://www.gamesindustry.biz/only-2-2-percent-of-free-to-play-users-ever-pay-report.Google Scholar
  • Tanks. GG (2024) All Tanks information of WOT. Accessed July 30, 2024, https://tanks.gg/list.Google Scholar
  • Tobon S, Ruiz-Alba JL, García-Madariaga J (2020) Gamification and online consumer decisions: Is the game over? Decision Support Systems 128:113167.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Varian HR (2000) Versioning information goods. Kahin B, Varian HR, eds. Internet Publishing and Beyond: The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), 190–202.Google Scholar
  • Wang L, Lowry PB, Luo X, Li H (2023) Moving consumers from free to fee in platform-based markets: An empirical study of multiplayer online battle area games. Inform. Systems Res. 34(1):275–296.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Wargaming (2024) Tankopedia: Reviews, comparison and collections of combat vehicles. World of Tanks. Accessed July 30, 2024, https://worldoftanks.com/en/tankopedia/#wot&w_m=tanks.Google Scholar
  • Wei XD, Nault BR (2013) Experience information goods: Version-to-upgrade. Decision Support Systems 56:494–501.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wei X, Nault BR (2014) Monopoly versioning of information goods when consumers have group tastes. Production Oper. Management 23(6):1067–1081.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wu Sy, Chen Py (2008) Versioning and piracy control for digital information goods. Oper. Res. 56(1):157–172.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Wu Sy, Chen PY, Anandalingam G (2003) Fighting information good piracy with versioning. Proc. 24th Internat. Conf. Inform. Systems (Association for Information Systems, Seattle).Google Scholar
  • Xu B, Yao Z, Tang P (2018) Pricing strategies for information products with network effects and complementary services in a duopolistic market. Internat. J. Production Res. 56(12):4243–4263.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.