With the rapid rise of the virtual economy in the global consumer market

its influence and commercial value continue to be highlighted. In the diversified marketing strategy of virtual products

brand IP linkage has become an important means to efficiently attract users

achieve traffic aggregation and value appreciation. This type of strategy can often achieve a "1+1>2" marketing effect by integrating the fan base and emotional identity of both IPs. However

the existing research mostly focuses on the development model and macro trend of the virtual economy itself

and there is still a lack of systematic and in-depth discussion on how linkage marketing catalyzes the formation mechanism of emotional premium. To this end

this paper takes the typical linkage case of "Honor of Kings × Sanrio (2025)" as the research object

and combines SOR theory and Maslow's hierarchy of demand theory to construct a theoretical model of emotional premium generation

aiming to reveal the transformation path and premium logic of emotional value in virtual consumption. Through case studies and in-depth interviews with 20 participating players

the third-order coding method is used to extract core categories such as "IP emotional attachment"

"scarcity anxiety" and "social drive"

and explain the internal mechanism of emotional premium in the "motivation-mechanism-behavior" chain. The results show that the emotional premium mainly stems from the emotional attachment and non-functional value of the player's identification with the IP

and its formation is driven by the dual driving of external mechanism design (such as limited time scarcity

lottery mechanism) and internal psychological processes (such as collecting desire and social needs). This paper finally provides targeted strategic suggestions for game developers

IP licensors

regulatory authorities and consumers from the two levels of theoretical construction and practical application

so as to help optimize consumer behavior and market norms in the virtual economy.