ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Media, Creative, and Cultural Industries
FACTORS AFFECTING USER INTENTION TO USE GAMING COMPANION SERVICE
Provisionally accepted
- Penerbit UPM, Selangor, Malaysia
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Game companion services had become a new form of entertainment in China. As gaming companion is a new phenomenon, many companion platforms are facing problems such as fierce market competition, imperfect platform technology and unprofessional services. This increases the time cost for users to select companion services and weakens the quality of services they enjoy. Therefore, in order to help the platform better understand user, this study aims to investigate the users of the gaming companion platform. To achieve this, the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory was utilized in designing the quantitative survey questionnaire. A simple random sampling technique was employed, resulting in responses from 425 gaming companions in Shanghai, China. The collected data were then analyzed using structural equation modeling (AMOS 26.0). The results of the analysis showed that professionalism, interactivity, popularity have a significant positive effect on user's perceived value (perceived entertainment and perceived sociability). Meanwhile, the study found a mediating effect of perceived entertainment and perceived sociability. The characteristics of the accompanist (professionalism, interactivity and popularity) enhance the user's intention to use through enhancing the perceived value. This sheds light on user research in the field of mass communication, demonstrating that social interaction and entertainment experience are core drivers that influence user behavior. This study provides a theoretical foundation for future user research in the field of game companion. This study provides help for gaming companion platforms to develop more effective operation strategies to promote the sustainable development of the gaming companion industry.
Keywords: Game Companion Service, Intention to use, Perceived entertainment, Perceived Sociability, SOR
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huo, Abas and Waheed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shao hua Huo
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