The Impact of Linkage Activities on User Consumption Behavior:

Taking the 2024 Konami Live Football and Bayern Munich Events as

Examples

Taishi Sun

School of management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Live Football, Interactive Activities, User Loyalty, Brand Analysis.

Abstract: With the development of smart phones and wireless Internet, the mobile game industry has developed very

rapidly, and the live football mobile game is one of the best mobile games. As a game company that strives

to create a realistic gaming experience, Pro Evolution Soccer actively collaborates with major football clubs

to produce linked players and events. Compared to traditional football games, these more realistic games will

have a certain degree of impact on players' game duration and recharge amount. This article will collect data

through survey questionnaires and interviews, and use theories such as brand as a sign to study these issues,

in order to understand the impact of collaborative activities on user consumption behavior and game company

brands. After analysis, it was found that fan identity has a relatively small impact on the time and money

players invest in collaborative activities, while factors such as age and income level have a greater impact.

Younger players spend more time playing games than older players. In terms of recharge behavior, younger

players recharge much more frequently than older players, but the recharge amount is higher for older players.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the growing popularity of smart phones and the

Internet, the mobile game industry has also developed

rapidly. Mobile games have gradually become a way

for modern people to relax and unwind. There are

various classifications of mobile games. Such as

leisure cultivation, RPG, strategy, sports, and so on

(Xiong, 2025). According to market share research,

strategy, leisure development, and RPG categories

have a relatively large market share, reaching a total

of 75%. However, sports mobile games only account

for 9% of the mobile game market share (Chang,

2025). And most of the well-known sports mobile

games are represented by foreign game

manufacturers, among which live football is a

masterpiece by Konami Games. Sports mobile games

have a good reputation among players, but compared

to other types of games, their popularity is not high.

This may be due to its lack of good marketing

methods (Shi, 2020). For example, people rarely see

advertisements about live football on the internet or

television commercials. In addition to promoting the

game itself, collaborations and joint activities with

well-known clubs such as Barcelona and Bayern

Munich are also a good way to promote the game. The

core issue of this study is to explore whether

cooperation with a well-known football club (Bayern

Munich) can affect players' game duration and

recharge consumption habits, as well as the revenue

brought to the game company. This type of revenue

is divided into two aspects: immediate (recharge

revenue) and long-term (brand stickiness and user

loyalty) (Yi & Dong, 2025). This research plan adopts

two research methods, namely: survey questionnaire

method and interview method. To understand the

views of game players on collaborative activities.

For existing research on sports games, many

studies have found that the market share of sports

games is much smaller than other types of games

(Zhao, 2022). The low market awareness of sports

games is due to the disadvantage of marketing

strategies (Zhao and Xie, 2024). However, there are

few proposed solutions, and research on consumer

behavior in gaming is still not sufficient. Many

studies only focus on the surface level of game

duration and changes in recharge amounts, mostly

studying internal issues within the game. But without

stepping out of the game and delving deeper into the

underlying reasons, including the psychological

384

Sun, T.

The Impact of Linkage Activities on User Consumption Behavior: Taking the 2024 Konami Live Football and Bayern Munich Events as Examples.

DOI: 10.5220/0013845500004719

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics (ICEML 2025), pages 384-388

ISBN: 978-989-758-775-7

factors of game players and the influence of economic

and social backgrounds. This article will start with

game linkage activities and analyze the impact of

such activities on game user loyalty by combining

linkage activity marketing, psychology, and social

background. This article hope this study can

understand players' attitudes towards collaborative

activities, as well as the impact of collaborative

activities on game revenue and user stickiness, and

provide some suggestions for game companies'

collaborative marketing strategies to help sports

games increase their market share in the gaming

industry.

2 RESEARCH METHODS

The research methods adopted in this article are

questionnaire survey and interview (Zhao, 2022). The

selected respondents were mainly people who had

experience in football mobile games (with a small

number of people who did not have sports game

experience), because they had some understanding of

football games and accumulated some background

knowledge when answering related questions (Dong,

2015). There are mainly two groups of people

selected. The first group is college students and high

school students, who mainly represent the youth

group. The second group is office workers, who

mainly represent the middle-aged population. In

terms of problem setting, this study is based on

previous research and the data required for the study.

The main questions are divided into three parts: the

first part is the basic information of the respondents,

mainly including gender, age, income level, and

education level. The second part is the player's level

of understanding of live football, mainly including

the investigation of game duration and recharge

amount. The third part is about players' opinions on

the linkage activities, understanding the changes in

game duration and recharge amount before and after

the linkage activities (Liu Chen Jin and Yu, 2015).

The above is the design stage of the survey

questionnaire.

The next stage is the distribution of the survey

questionnaire, which will be delivered online to major

social platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, and football

forums. Compared to traditional offline advertising.

Online advertising can collect data more efficiently

and reduce labor costs. It is worth mentioning that

online questionnaires can better visualize data and

facilitate subsequent research.

In the stage of questionnaire collection and data

analysis, after statistics, a total of 93 valid

questionnaires were received (note: there is a simple

question in the questionnaire to verify the validity of

the questionnaire and select qualified questionnaires).

In terms of data analysis, the study mainly used data

visualization methods, such as bar charts, line charts,

and pie charts, to reflect changes in players' game

duration, consumption frequency, and consumption

amount. And combined with relevant theories such as

brand as a sign and consumer psychology, analyze the

consumption behavior of game players and draw

corresponding conclusions (Yan, 2025).

In the interview method, the study mainly selected

two respondents aged 45 and above with experience

in sports mobile games. A 20 minute interview was

conducted for each interviewee (Zhu, Xiao, Huang

and Dong, 2023). During the interview, the content

was recorded to facilitate the reproduction of the

interviewee's answers in subsequent analysis and

research. After the interview, convert the sound from

the recording into a document. Extract keywords and

code the interview content. Finally, keywords such as'

football faith 'were extracted. Used for auxiliary

research on the data obtained from the survey

questionnaire in the future.

3 RESEARCH RESULTS

From Figure 1, it can be seen that for the collaborative

activities between Konami Live Football Mobile

Game and Bayern Munich Club, the average recharge

frequency shows a decreasing trend from 18 years old

and below to 45 years old and above. From an average

of around 30 times to an average of 5 times. It can be

seen that teenagers recharge more frequently, while

middle-aged people recharge less frequently. This

may be because teenagers are more susceptible to

impulsive consumption stimulated by game pages.

Middle aged people, on the other hand, are relatively

mature and stable, and are not easily stimulated by

internal game factors such as discount activities and

bright game pages.

Figure 1: Number of players recharging

Below 18 18to25 26to35 36to45 45 or

above

Number of Recharges

The Impact of Linkage Activities on User Consumption Behavior: Taking the 2024 Konami Live Football and Bayern Munich Events as

Examples

385

From the statistical analysis of the average

recharge amount of players in Figure 2, it can be seen

that players under the age of 18 and those aged 18 to

25 have the lowest recharge amount, only around 100

yuan. There is an upward trend from the age of 18 to

45 and above. The average recharge amount for

players aged 45 and above reached 550 yuan. After

interviews and questionnaire surveys, it can be

concluded that this is due to the low disposable

income of teenagers under the age of 18, and most of

them are living expenses or pocket money provided

by their parents. So their recharge amount is naturally

low. As for office workers, their disposable income is

relatively high, and as a result, their recharge amounts

are also increasing. Between the ages of 26 and 35,

players' recharge amounts have decreased. This may

be due to the economic pressures faced by people at

this stage, such as mortgages, car loans, and family

loans, resulting in lower disposable income.

Figure 2: Average recharge amount of players

From the statistical analysis of players' game

duration in Figure 3, it can be seen that those under

the age of 18 and those aged 18 to 25 have longer

game durations, averaging over 2 hours. Starting from

the age of 18, the gaming time has been decreasing

year by year, and players over the age of 36 generally

have less gaming time, below 30 minutes. This

indicates that as players age, their gaming time

decreases year by year. It is not difficult to see that

teenagers have a longer gaming time. On the one

hand, this may be due to the increasing pressure of

life as people age. They often spend more time in life,

dedicating themselves to work or spending time with

their families.

Figure 3: Average player game duration

From the perspective of the game login frequency

figure 4, the trend reflected is consistent with the

game duration. The login frequency per week shows

a decreasing trend from the age of 18 to 45. Players

under the age of 18 can almost guarantee to log in to

the game every day, while 36 year old players have

an average login frequency of twice a week. From

this, it can be seen that teenagers have a greater

passion for games. Middle aged and elderly people

only regard games as a way of entertainment and do

not log in to play every day.

Figure 4: Login Game Frequency (Weekly)

4 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Brand as a Sign

According to the brand as a sign theory, the linkage

with Bayern Munich Club includes the external

manifestation of the brand, such as the realistic player

100

200

300

400

500

600

18 18to25 26to35 36to45 45

Average recharge amount

100

150

18 18to25 26to35 36to45 45

Length of time spent

playing games

Length of time spent playing games

18 18to25 26to35 36to45 45

ICEML 2025 - International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics

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image and Bayern Munich Club endorsement. It can

help players achieve a good gaming experience. In the

signed part of the brand, through the linkage with

major clubs, live football conveys to players the

promise of a real football game and a symbol of

football culture. For Bayern Munich fans, this is a

football belief, and compared to other ordinary

players, people are more inclined to pay for their

favorite players. For the Konami Pro Evolution

Soccer brand, the collaborative operation of major

clubs can help players extend their football dreams

and cultivate emotional dependence and loyalty

towards the Konami brand. Continuing with the

theme analysis, keywords such as "real experience"

and "football belief" were extracted from the

questionnaire data and interview records.

Furthermore, it can be concluded that in each linkage

activity, players will have a real experience of playing

against each other. One interviewee also said that

genuine collaboration can ignite their football faith.

4.2 Consumer Behavior

According to research on consumer behavior, it can

be concluded that young consumers are more likely

to make impulsive purchases than middle-aged and

elderly consumers. From a psychological perspective,

teenagers are more susceptible to being driven by

emotions. Stimulated by the Bayern Munich linkage

event and vibrant game pages, there is a desire to

consume. This kind of impulsive consumption is

often related to emotional decision-making, and

young people are relatively immature in emotional

management. And young people's ability to delay

gratification is relatively weak. The Delayed

Gratification theory suggests that adolescents are

more inclined towards immediate gratification, while

middle-aged and elderly individuals are better able to

restrain short-term desires for long-term goals.

Nowadays, teenagers face less social pressure and

mostly spend their parents' money. Middle aged and

elderly people face more pressure from their families,

such as car and mortgage loans. The expenses are also

relatively high. So this can explain why more young

people choose to spend money on games. But the

number of middle-aged and elderly people who

recharge is relatively small.

4.3 Playing for Faith

It is worth noting that many age group fans and

players have a nostalgic mentality in the current

social context. The notion of 'paying for faith'

circulating in society. Many middle-aged and elderly

people left a deep impression on their hearts when

they were young and watching football. The

triangulation theory was initially adopted to verify

this hypothesis. In addition to collecting user

responses through questionnaire data, the study also

conducted discussions and posts in the football

community, and interviewed two 45-year-old live

players. In the end, it was concluded that purchasing

their favorite players through game recharge is also a

reflection of their memories of their youth. Teenagers

are still in a stage of understanding the world and their

obsession with faith is not as deep. More importantly,

at the economic level, research has found that

teenagers have relatively low incomes, and most of

them are living expenses provided by their parents.

And the income of middle-aged and elderly people is

significantly higher than that of teenagers, and they

earn discretionary income for themselves. This also

explains why middle-aged and elderly people

recharge much more than teenagers.

5 CONCLUSIONS

After research and data analysis, it was found that the

relationship between the amount of money and time

invested in live football mobile games and the

players' fans and non-fans is not significant. But it is

closely related to the age and income level of the

players. Older and higher income players have less

gaming time and lower recharge frequency. But the

total recharge amount is relatively large. Younger

gamers with lower income levels generally have

longer game durations and higher recharge

frequencies. The total recharge amount is relatively

small.

The significance of conducting research lies in

two aspects, one is theoretical: this study can broaden

the relevant theories on game operation and user

stickiness, and provide some references for

subsequent research. On the other hand, in practical

terms: With the increasing competition in football

games, a good collaborative management strategy is

crucial for games to stand out among a group of

football online games. This study can provide

reference for the operation of football game

companies, enabling them to understand consumer

needs and enhance brand loyalty among game users.

Bring good economic and social benefits.

However, this study also has some limitations,

such as the limited sample size obtained, with only 93

questionnaire samples. Compared to studies with

large sample sizes, there may be some randomness.

In the future, this study may expand the sample size

The Impact of Linkage Activities on User Consumption Behavior: Taking the 2024 Konami Live Football and Bayern Munich Events as

Examples

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and research methods and theories, striving for more

scientific and comprehensive research.

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