Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In the digital economy era, the online game industry is transitioning from scale - oriented expansion to quality - driven development. The "Online Game Excellence Publishing Project" launched by the State Press and Publication Administration in 2023 represents a significant shift from content auditing to excellence cultivation, guiding the industry towards works with profound thinking, exquisite art, and excellent production. Against this backdrop, Shawarma Game, a small - and - medium - sized enterprise, has achieved remarkable success. Despite the highly competitive market dominated by giants like Tencent and NetEase, which hold 68% of the market share, Shawarma Game attracted 5 million registered users within its first month of operation through unique positioning and innovative strategies, emerging as a benchmark for implementing the excellence strategy. This study, grounded in the dynamic marketing theoretical framework, uses the PEST model to analyse the marketing environment shaped by policy, technology, consumption, and social factors. The STP theory is applied to reveal its precise targeting of Generation Z's cultural needs, while the 4V marketing theory deconstructs the game's innovative design in variation, versatility, value, and vibration. Particular focus is placed on its UGC - driven content marketing ecosystem and the viral communication model of "magic gameplay + social fission". The findings aim to provide replicable marketing methodologies for the industry's high - quality development, contributing to the supply - side reform of the game industry.
Author: <p>Mingyue Zhao</p>
Institution: Xi'an International Studies University
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4411917769