Examination of the effect of console games on consumers' purchase intention within the scope of virtual experience event and phygital marketing

The vast majority of the international level virtual reality studies have been performed due to educational purposes but, the experiences of virtual reality games provided to the users, within the context of digital and console games, are not handled separately. The purpose of the study was to identify the experiences through by the virtual reality games to the individuals and to examine these experiences according to different contextual and conceptual variables and with the opinions of field experts. In the first stage of the research, the final sample of which consists of individuals with virtual reality gaming experience (n=208), the "Virtual Reality Experience Scale (VRES)", which allows determining the virtual reality experiences of individuals, was developed and validated. At the second stage, in-depth interviews based on the factors of virtual reality gaming experience were conducted with individuals in the position of senior managers (n=16) who are experienced in digital games and software, have expert qualifications in their field. Finally, the perspectives obtained within the scope of the VRES and the codes found as the result of expert opinions on virtual reality experiences have been compared and matched after contextual and conceptual review. According to the findings of the research, virtual games experiences of the individuals have been determined to be "Pleasure", "Immersion", "Flow", "Behavioural Involment" and "Interaction", and the "Immersion" dimension among VRES dimensions have been matched with the codes "second (new) world", "independent reality", "environment (physical)", "sense of being immersion", "reality experience", and "derealisation". In line with the same principle and approach, it was determined that the dimension of "pleasure" matched with the codes "unique experience", "reality" and "entertainment", while the dimension of "Behavioural Involment" matched with the codes "effect on daily life" and "self-control reflection" and the dimension of "Flow" matches with the code "active and physical player". In addition, it was determined that the code "positive effect" matched all VRES dimensions. According to the results of the research, it can be stated that virtual reality games stand out in terms of providing a unique experience for individuals and will provide important information to manufacturers and practitioners.