Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly used in digital game development, and disclosures on digital platforms make such use more visible to players. Prior research offers conflicting predictions regarding how users respond to such disclosure. Research on AI-generated products suggests that disclosure can reduce valuation because it weakens source-related beliefs tied to human creation. Research on games as interactive hedonic systems, however, suggests that players also evaluate games in terms of the experience they expect during play. Building on these perspectives, this study conceptualizes GenAI disclosure as the focal independent variable and proposes two pathways through which disclosure influences players’ purchase intention. First, GenAI disclosure decreases perceived effort, which lowers purchase intention. Second, GenAI disclosure can increase perceived novelty, which raises purchase intention, but this positive pathway depends on the stage of GenAI involvement described by the disclosure. Specifically, this positive effect is stronger under during-interaction involvement than under pre-interaction involvement. We test the model using a scenario-based online experiment in the context of digital games. The results show that GenAI disclosure reduces perceived effort relative to no disclosure, while its positive effect on perceived novelty emerges primarily when GenAI is described as contributing during gameplay rather than before gameplay. Willingness to pay is included as a supplementary outcome and shows directionally similar but weaker patterns. This study extends GenAI disclosure research to digital games and shows that the effect of disclosure depends not only on whether GenAI use is disclosed, but also on the stage of involvement described by that disclosure.

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