Explorations in game experience: A case study of ‘horizon zero dawn'

Abstract

The aim of this study is to find the relationship between the specific gameplay elements of a chosen game and the gameplay experience it provides which will be measured by a selected survey from the literature, the Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ). Before illustrating the relation between the game elements and the player experience measured via GEQ, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to validate the factor structure of GEQ and GEQ is also evaluated for its unidimensionality, internal reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity. The selected game for the study is Horizon Zero Dawn which is an open-world action role-playing video game developed by Guerrilla Games. Selling more than 2.6 million units worldwide in two weeks, the game has become the best-selling new first party IP launch on the PlayStation 4. Our study aims to answer the following questions: (1) Can we measure a successful and popular game's experience with GEQ? (2) What are the gameplay elements that make this game so popular? (3) Are there any correlations with the subscales of GEQ and the gameplay elements in question? © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.