What do you think the term "AAA Game" means?

By compl3x
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AAA Gaming definition  

47 members have voted

  1. 1. AAA Game/ing means:

    • A game with a massive budget, large crew, and a big publisher or distributor behind it. (GTA V, Fallout 4, the annual shooty-shooty bang-bang fps, The Witcher, etc.)
      31
    • A game that enjoys a lot of marketing and advertising support from a large distributor or publisher. The size, reputation, or pedigree of the developer is irrelevant to the game's ability to be labelled AAA.
      3
    • A game which the developers offer their assurance is bug-free and immediately playable. (à la Nintendo's Seal of Approval)
      1
    • A game which earns public and critical praise. GOTY, high metascore ratings, etc.
      2
    • It used to mean something, but now it is just a useless buzzword.
      2
    • LOL. Get real, it never meant anything.
      2
    • Other. Enlighten us in the comment section.
      1

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Grand Master

compl3x

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I seen some people arguing about No Man's Sky being or not being triple A. Some argue it is indie because it has a small team, although I don't know if that makes it indie. So argued that it has Sony as a distributor and marketer so it is AAA.

 

Then I thought "I hear AAA all the time but I have never stopped to think what that means". What is your definition?

Grand Master

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The line is kinda blurring, since smaller developers do not need to look for a specific publisher/distributor and multiple engines are available for use... so AAA means less.

 

I do kinda chuckle when people complain about "buggy pre-release access"... back in the day, people would pay a lot to get into a beta test.

Grand Master

compl3x

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3 hours ago, techbeck said:

AAA is a motor club in the US.  Every time I see AAA mentioned,  I always think of that.

 

I know, but I specifically put "AAA game" in the topic title.

 

2 hours ago, LostCat said:

I voted Other because the poll is annoying.

 

I don't understand, What is annoying about it? Those are common ways people have described AAA games.

 

2 hours ago, LostCat said:

 

Indie, small-medium team, reasonable budget would more likely say AA to me, not AAA.

 

Last I heard Stardock is kinda in the AA market, but I admit I haven't looked into the definitions.

 

There is no such thing as AA or A games.

Grand Master

compl3x

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1 hour ago, LostCat said:

Whatever works.

 

This discussion is pretty meaningless. 

 

Then leave. You're not contributing, you're being rude and patronising. No one is forcing you to participate in a discussion you have no interest in.

 

1 hour ago, LostCat said:

 Here's the accepted definition:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_(video_game_industry)

 

 

 

I already read the Wiki page. It's laughable you think because it has a Wiki page it is "accepted". The way games' journalism, gamers, and the industry in general uses the term is completely arbitrary to the point it seems to mean nothing.

 

1 hour ago, LostCat said:

 

 

(And to answer your question, because of how you phrased the 'answers.')

 

Still don't understand. Do you feel I used too many words for you or something?

Grand Master

spaceelf

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31 minutes ago, compl3x said:

I already read the Wiki page. It's laughable you think because it has a Wiki page it is "accepted". The way games' journalism, gamers, and the industry in general uses the term is completely arbitrary to the point it seems to mean nothing.

If you've already decided the answer why ask the question?  It's the accepted definition by most people who've answered it in print or elsewhere.  That it has a wiki page was simply letting me point out that that definition has not been disputed by anyone.

 

Personally I'd say any of the top three potentially qualify, but I have no idea what the Nintendo seal goes on.

Edited by LostCat
Grand Master

+Mirumir Subscriber¹

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What do you think the term "AAA Game" means?

 

Anything that's been made by Blizzard obviously.

 

It's a scale adopted from the financial ratings agencies on the grades of investments. (Fitch, Moody's, S&P)

Grand Master

Nick H. Supervisor

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In the video game industry, AAA (pronounced "triple A") or Triple-A is a classification term used forgames with the highest development budgets and levels of promotion. A title considered to be AAA is therefore expected to be a high quality game or to be among the year's bestsellers.

Source. If I think about it, that sums it up for me. Although these days the quality bit can be questionable.

Grand Master

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On 8/13/2016 at 7:19 AM, compl3x said:

The way games' journalism, gamers, and the industry in general uses the term is completely arbitrary to the point it seems to mean nothing.

Like the similarly arbitrary and meaningly assertation that you made that A and AA do not exist? AAA didn't exist either until somebody made it up. It's something somebody said that caught on. By definition, for Triple-Something to exist (in this case Triple-A or AAA), then the Something has to exist too (ie. A). By extension that means Double-Something should also exist.

Grand Master

compl3x

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12 hours ago, Ryster said:

Like the similarly arbitrary and meaningly assertation that you made that A and AA do not exist? AAA didn't exist either until somebody made it up. It's something somebody said that caught on. By definition, for Triple-Something to exist (in this case Triple-A or AAA), then the Something has to exist too (ie. A). By extension that means Double-Something should also exist.

 

Huh? Show me where any game has been referred to as an "A game" or a "Double A game". It doesn't exist anywhere. These aren't bond credit ratings.

 

You assuming that games were once called "A games", then an upgraded version of "Double A" was introduced, and then finally the "Triple A" labelled was developed. They were not, as far as I know. I have been gaming for 20+ years and I have never heard of A or AA.

 

13 hours ago, Nick H. said:

Source. If I think about it, that sums it up for me. Although these days the quality bit can be questionable.

 

Right. As I mentioned earlier, I did read the Wiki page. If you read the first couple of sentences you see that one of the early examples of distinguishing quality was Nintendo's approval seal which denoted that the game was well tested. Is functionality/testing still a part of the modern AAA label or is that no longer relevant?

 

If triple A is just big budget, fine, but big budget has nothing to do with quality, functionality, ratings and review scores.

Veteran

madd-hatter

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It is a combination of the first 2 choices.

 

"A game with a massive budget, large crew, and a big publisher or distributor behind it. A game that enjoys a lot of marketing and advertising support from a large distributor or publisher."

 

Most of these titles are perceived by many to fall short because of the amount of hype that is generated around them. Happiness is a function of expectations.

 

I would also add that specific console exclusive AAA titles are expected to sell that console hardware and thus heavily promoted by Sony/MS/Nintendo. I.E. Uncharted & God of War, Halo & Gears of War, Mario & Zelda.

Grand Master

LaP

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AAA mostly refer to the quality of a game.  An AAA game is a great game that is technically superior, fun, popular and without much bugs. A game able to win awards at the end of the year and a game that is a best seller.

 

The budget part came later. Big publisher thought that to make AAA games you just had to invest lot of money and they did not bother about the quality of them anymore. About 10-15 years ago we reached a point were big publishers felt that to be AAA a game needed to have a very bug budget only and nothing else. Most of them were sequels filled with bugs cause the big publishers did not have the guts to invest such money on a  new IP and enforced strict impossible deadlines. But this is not what AAA games were at first. They became that because of the stupidity of big publishers.

 

Now with the advent of indie studios and small studios publishing their own games the budget part should be removed from the AAA grade again as alone it's not a guarantee of superior quality. An AAA game is simply a popular game and well received game with a technical level of quality superior than the average. Now of course i'm not saying games like Braid or Rogue Legacy are AAA. I don't think their technical qualities are good enough. But some of those small titles are more popular than some big budget titles. The popularity of some of those games did put pressure on big publishers like Ubisoft. A big budget alone is not a guarantee of success anymore. Lot of gamers like me would rather spend their money on a well made original B-title instead of a big budget sequel filled with bugs. To be popular these days a game can't just have a big budget.

 

So no big budget sequels filled with bugs are not AAA simply because the budget was big. I think the industry is past this point. To be AAA a game need to be technically superior but also popular and well received by people who play it. AAA ultimately refers to superior quality. While it's almost impossible to achieve without a big budget having a big budget doesn't mean a game is necessarily of superior quality.

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