Research

The avatar’s new clothes: appreciation fuels $88-billion free-to-play gaming industry

Jul 30, 2019

It sounds counter-intuitive, but free-to-play online games are a booming $88-billion-a-year industry. Developers of games like Fortnite and League of Legends rake in significant revenues when players purchase non-functional items like clothes and skins for their avatars while playing these free games. Now, a study led by SFU Beedie professor Leyland Pitt reveals why gamers are so willing to continually spend their money on these non-functional items. After holding focus groups with gamers, the researchers’ […]

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Huffington Post: How Gamification Can Transform Business Processes

Aug 27, 2015

The following article was published in the Huffington Post Canada Business section on August 26. It features research by Beedie School of Business faculty Ian McCarthy, Jan Kietzmann and Leyland Pitt, current PhD student Karen Robson, and former PhD student Kirk Plangger.

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How American Idol and Call of Duty can help improve business

Jul 24, 2015

Like most of us, Ian McCarthy enjoys a good game. The Associate Dean of Graduate Programs at the Beedie School of Business (and fan of poker and soccer) has taken his love of games a step further, however.

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