What does "AAA" mean?
- Thread starter Olrod
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Triple A is generally the term used for games that are on large budgets and are made by very large publishers. On the opposite side of the spectrum nowadays, it is Indie, which refers to games made by small, independent studios who aren't owned by a large publisher. An example of Triple A would be Dragon Age: Inquisition published by EA; meanwhile an example of what is considered Indie would be Shantae and the Pirate's Curse by Wayforward Technologies (since apparently Wayforward is considered Indie).
Honestly no, the moniker for Triple A is just used so that Indie games and Triple A games aren't mixed together. Not to mention, Triple A has a stigma about it nowadays due to the actions of the few (EA and Ubisoft). As a result people will blanket all Triple A games or the Triple A industry in general as being bad. On the flip side now, I've seen people think that all Indie games are holy and good when in reality it can be just as bad as Triple A.Olrod said:
A game that's made where the game designers spend more time and money worrying about showing off character models showing dirt and blood accumulation on clothing realistically than actual game play or even story.
"AAA" usually means a game with a budget in marketing. Minecraft, at least in my opinion, isn't Tri-A, because it just isn't represented. AAA doesn't mean good, or even playable (see Assassin's Creed Unity). It's a game where the hype is being built through A) past examples of the series being popular, B) A large effort in marketing, or C) A LOT of claims made in marketing that the game is going to be "Revolutionary" or the like. Or all of the above. Doesn't mean the game will always fill these promises (again, Unity) But it doesn't mean they will fail them, like GTA V. Basically, its a moniker for games yet to be released, that are hyped by their producers (in my opinion).
It's just an expression used for games with the highest development budgets and levels of promotion, and the studios that make them. The letters mean nothing.
The term started out as something used among industry folks to point out the actual good games among all the crap. Kind of like an informal seal of quality. Most of these games were big titles from renowned developers. This was somewhere in the late 90s.
Of course it didn't take long for the term to turn into a marketing word. Not long after the word was being used for anything big from any big publisher. Sure, there's still a good chance these games are good, but it mostly refers to the huge amounts of money being poured into these projects.
Of course it didn't take long for the term to turn into a marketing word. Not long after the word was being used for anything big from any big publisher. Sure, there's still a good chance these games are good, but it mostly refers to the huge amounts of money being poured into these projects.
I think it goes back to grading. You know they say A for effort, so triple A means that they went for A in all areas of the game, high graphics high performance, high whatever. obviously triple A can be shitty games, but the thought behind it is that they made a High investment.
AAA is not even really an official designation. At least not as far as I have seen. I rarely see the marketing wonks of a major publisher use the term. it is a useful piece of slang for distinguishing between very large budget games with massive marketing behind them, middle of the road titles that are probably around a tenth of the cost of the really big ones (still a lot of money probably a couple of million) and indie titles that are largely self published or exist only on Steam made for significantly less money.
AAA games often have a creative staff numbering in the hundreds, full voice over and the latest in visuals. Sometimes they have a rented game engine, sometimes they make their own for that game. They are also in nearly all cases owned lock stock and barrel by one of the really big publishers. You usually won't see much more than a dozen folks on an indie dev team. There will be very limited if at all voice over work (that's money and time) and often times an open source game engine or something very rudimentary that they coded themselves.
Very few games fall into the middle category which is often where the interesting shit comes from. A sizable budget that is not totally blown on marketing, a (mostly) independent dev team an older game engine or in rare cases one that is unique to the game made. Dev teams that I can think of under this area would be Obsidian (closer to AAA to be sure but they are kinda like hired guns that move from publisher to publisher like it used to be before EA/Activision/Ubisoft ate practically everything) or CD Projekt Red who are their own men through and through.
AAA games often have a creative staff numbering in the hundreds, full voice over and the latest in visuals. Sometimes they have a rented game engine, sometimes they make their own for that game. They are also in nearly all cases owned lock stock and barrel by one of the really big publishers. You usually won't see much more than a dozen folks on an indie dev team. There will be very limited if at all voice over work (that's money and time) and often times an open source game engine or something very rudimentary that they coded themselves.
Very few games fall into the middle category which is often where the interesting shit comes from. A sizable budget that is not totally blown on marketing, a (mostly) independent dev team an older game engine or in rare cases one that is unique to the game made. Dev teams that I can think of under this area would be Obsidian (closer to AAA to be sure but they are kinda like hired guns that move from publisher to publisher like it used to be before EA/Activision/Ubisoft ate practically everything) or CD Projekt Red who are their own men through and through.
I think it's an archaic term from the movie industry. As in you have B-list movies and A-list movies. For a project that has a famous cast (A-list actors), a famous director (A-list again) and is written by a well-knwon writer (A), it can be listed as a triple A. Summmarising, a project that throws around a lot of money in the production stage, i call AAA.
It generally just refers to the scale and source of the game and exists as a label to distinguish it from indie games. Generally a AAA game is one from a large gaming studio that was made by a large team (40+ people). As a rule of thumb, if a game is being sold in physical form in a shop, it's probably AAA. If a game is only selling on an online service like Steam, PSN or XBLA then it's probably indie. AAA games are ones with an RRP of $50-60, indies are more likely to be $10-30. I think it used to denote the really big blockbusters and hyped up games but these days it's broader.
There is some muddy water too like the fact that many of the major studios do also make some games that are very much indie but the same rules geneally apply. Ubisoft might have published Valiant Hearts but it was still just a small team making it and you still only get it from the online stores and at a cheaper price than AAA games.
There is some muddy water too like the fact that many of the major studios do also make some games that are very much indie but the same rules geneally apply. Ubisoft might have published Valiant Hearts but it was still just a small team making it and you still only get it from the online stores and at a cheaper price than AAA games.
I always thought that AAA game means that this game has huge budget, big company backing it up and is focused on selling to as many people as possible. This means having pretty graphics and (possibly) flashy effects, but also having stroy and/or gameplay no better than slightly above average.
AAA simply means "high-budget."
More specifically, it means "in the realm of the highest budgets that usually get spent on a given video game."
More specifically, it means "in the realm of the highest budgets that usually get spent on a given video game."