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[Elder Legend]

'AAA' to me means 'great visuals, boring games'. Am I ok to say that?

No, the OP is clueless. AAA is already defined.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

No, the OP is clueless. AAA is already defined.

Define "big budget"

 

[intbal]

AAA = A joke made by Boot Magazine in the 90s, mocking self-important game developers/publishers. They never intended people to use it seriously. But it stuck.

 

[Urban]

10 min play
-3 min cut scene
10 min play
-3 min cut scene
10 min play
-3 min cut scene
(repeat for 8-10 hours, game ends)

I think its tempting to see the 'cinematic' games as AAA because they bask in the gravitas of cinema, however I will always go out to bat for arcade games. The racers, the beat em ups, the shooters, the puzzle games. This is what gaming does so well.

What can I say ? I love those cinema games

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Big budget, high production value, cutting-edge tech. Something like PS5 Studio's big hits, and of course Microsoft heavy hitters like Forza Horizon and Flight Simulator.

 

[ZywyPL]

Nowadays it's all of the above really.

 

[lukilladog]

there is no subjective meaning of AAA, it's games of highest development and marketing budgets according to current industry standards.

You still need a subjective, made up, "high enough", parameter.

 

[Black_Stride]

AAA = highest budget
AA = medium budget
A = low budget
Indie = lowest budget

Bungie is technically an Indie developer.......could they NOT make a AAA game now considering they probably have a decent war chest and could find their own funding and self publish.

Heck Remedy is an Indie developer but I wouldnt really call Control a low budget game.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

90+ Metacritic

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Big budget, big game, and to me it s a good game too. That's AAA to me. It's like getting an A for production values, A for scope and A for quality.

If a game is small budget, a small game or stink, nope.

That's why a game like 2077 is not AAA to me. It's got the budget, scope and giant teams. But unless you got an uber rig or next gen system where it seem to run well, the game itself is buggy as hell, ran terribly on base consoles and got bad review scores. Dont care if the game had a $10 billion budget, it's not AAA in my books.

 

[RetroAV]

Industry-leading, high production quality relative to release.

 

[Mabdia]

Nowadays? Shit long games pandering for some lunatics (most of the time) that have beautifully crafted graphics.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Rockstar, 1st party Sony games, Forza Horizon/Motorsport, etc.

 

[Bartski]

You still need a subjective, made up, "high enough", parameter.

it's not entirely made up but indeed hard to precisely define due to a wide margin. Anywhere between 70-150 million $ in production costs and is constantly growing.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

It means at some point in the game, a character helps give you a boost up to a high to reach area. lol

 

[Laptop1991]

High Production Quality in visuals etc, but that doesn't always apply to the game play at times sadly, infact AAA combines a few of the options above really.

 

[Fafalada]

It's because that reason that Bethesda games, for example, even if I like them, they don't seem AAA to me. They are good games but ugly as shit.

Visual quality aside - they are also almost without fail very unpolished, rough experiences that actively fight a new player for first few hours of the game rather than retain them - which is indeed running counter to what 'AAA' is all about. The odd thing though is that it's not for lack of production values/$ investment, so it does serve to demonstrate $ amounts alone don't give results.

Another example: I never have perceived any Nintendo game as AAA. In fact, almost no japanese game neither. And again, I love Nintendo or japanese games.

Japanese games are a different story - majority of them are developed on fraction of Western 'AAA' budgets, so for the most part - you get what you pay for (well, what the publisher paid for). I'd argue that they tend to get better value for the $ spent 'on average', though when you start getting into really high budgets that may no longer be the case (FF15 and what not).

 

[Excess]

Surprised by the responses. I judge it by high development cost.

I reference the term as I would with the idea of a "Blockbuster" film in Hollywood, the intention of which is to drive ticket sales, and not necessarily produce films of high quality. This isn't to say that a Blockbuster can't be of high quality.

 

[daveonezero]

Nothing. Nothing to do with quality, budget or graphical achievement.

 

[kyliethicc]

Bungie is technically an Indie developer.......could they NOT make a AAA game now considering they probably have a decent war chest and could find their own funding and self publish.

Heck Remedy is an Indie developer but I wouldnt really call Control a low budget game.

Control's budget was under 50 million which today makes it like a AA game. Modern AAA games are pretty much all over 50 million in budget.

 

[Black_Stride]

High Production Quality in visuals etc, but that doesn't always apply to the game play at times sadly, infact AAA combines a few of the options above really.

An ugly, trashy, unoptimized 100 million dollar game is still a AAA game.

AAA is a cost designation, literally nothing else matters.
People just started placing AAA and visuals in tandem and seem to have forgotten which was which.

Genshin Impact which is a Unity game that runs on weak mobile phones is still a AAA game because it had a huge budget.

 

[N0S]

 

[Laptop1991]

An ugly, trashy, unoptimized 100 million dollar game is still a AAA game.

AAA is a cost designation, literally nothing else matters.
People just started placing AAA and visuals in tandem and seem to have forgotten which was which.

Genshin Impact which is a Unity game that runs on weak mobile phones is still a AAA game because it had a huge budget.

As i said, it's a combination of all of the above really, not just one thing but cost whether justified or not is apart of it, i don't disagree with you, but i've never heard of that game and it's not because i don't game on mobiles, i don't on consoles either, but i've heard of plenty of AAA games i can't play on PC, mobile games arn't AAA in my opinion, but they make alot of money no doubt.

 

[spons]

High budget, and high budget only. Some of it is utter trash, some of it good. Some of it is butt ugly, some of it beautiful. None of that means AAA though. It just means they've poured millions into it.
Both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 are AAA titles, although one is a fantastic experience and the other a dumpster fire.

 

[Black_Stride]

As i said, it's a combination of all of the above really, not just one thing but cost whether justified or not is apart of it, i don't disagree with you, but i've never heard of that game and it's not because i don't game on mobiles, i don't on consoles either, but i've heard of plenty of AAA games i can't play on PC, mobile games arn't AAA in my opinion, but they make alot of money no doubt.

Youve never heard of Genshin Impact?

I dont know whether to be proud of you or sad for you.

Your opinion tho....doesnt matter, the fact is Genshin Impact is a AAA game if its budget truly was 100 million dollars.
Facts arent things you debate or have differing opinions on, they are simply facts.


P.S Genshin Impact is on like every platform and one of the most successful games in decades, predatory tactics be damned....its got people to play it and keep playing it.

 

[Laptop1991]

Youve never heard of Genshin Impact?

I dont know whether to be proud of you or sad for you.

Your opinion tho....doesnt matter, the fact is Genshin Impact is a AAA game if its budget truly was 100 million dollars.
Facts arent things you debate or have differing opinions on, they are simply facts.


P.S Genshin Impact is on like every platform and one of the most successful games in decades, predatory tactics be damned....its got people to play it and keep playing it.

No i haven't, but i have now lol, but don't feel sad for me i still like the games i prefer to play and that wasn't one of them, i guess there wasn't enough flashy trailers or promo for it, so what point are you making here, picking genshin wasn't one of the choices above lol.

 

[cireza]

Probably a shitty game.

 

[Elder Legend]

Some of the replies here....on what An AAA game is to them when AAA is already defined. Kekw.

 

[Juza]

It's a combination of the first two. Basically it means "high investment with the expectation of high returns".

This is the most accurate definition of AAA games

 

[Black_Stride]

No i haven't, but i have now lol, but don't feel sad for me i still like the games i prefer to play and that wasn't one of them, i guess there wasn't enough flashy trailers or promo for it, so what point are you making here, picking genshin wasn't one of the choices above lol.

Point im making.
Is the fact that AAA is not tied to the quality or production values of a game.
Its tied solely......solely to its budget.
Its a term used to describe costs.....thats all.
Coincidentally alot of expensive games also have high production values so people starting equating AAA with high production values.....but this is wrong as AAA only describes the costs.

Genshin Impact is far from having "high production values" and is a pretty ugly game....but it is still a AAA game because its budget was huge.
The only metric used to measure whether a game is AAA or not is how much it costs.

Think of it this way.
Most sports cars are fast....so logically when you see a sports car youll assume its fast.
A Tesla comes along and you think well it doesnt look like a sports car so to me its not fast.
But there is no opinion on the matter....Teslas are fucking fast.
But fast is relative, fast in the 80s is different to the 90 to the 00s to the 10s.
Same with AAA....the cost moved up but the concept didnt change.

So having an opinion on whether a game is AAA or not really isnt a thing, if a game has an above average budget its a AAA game.
AAA used to be ~50million, its moved closer to 100 million so now if a game cost around that to get out.....its a AAA game.
It could be ugly as sin with only 3 character models like Genshin Impact, or a technical marvel like The Last of Us.....still AAA game.

 

[StateofMajora]

Means someone paid a lot of money to make (a lot of waste) and advertise the game and it doesn’t say much about its quality.

You can also notice when a publisher calls something AAA at the amount of modern tropes and lack of originality these games generally have.

Currently you can expect it to mean open world and tons of filler content.

 

[Laptop1991]

Point im making.
Is the fact that AAA is not tied to the quality or production values of a game.
Its tied solely......solely to its budget.
Its a term used to describe costs.....thats all.
Coincidentally alot of expensive games also have high production values so people starting equating AAA with high production values.....but this is wrong as AAA only describes the costs.

Genshin Impact is far from having "high production values" and is a pretty ugly game....but it is still a AAA game because its budget was huge.
The only metric used to measure whether a game is AAA or not is how much it costs.

Think of it this way.
Most sports cars are fast....so logically when you see a sports car youll assume its fast.
A Tesla comes along and you think well it doesnt look like a sports car so to me its not fast.
But there is no opinion on the matter....Teslas are fucking fast.
But fast is relative, fast in the 80s is different to the 90 to the 00s to the 10s.
Same with AAA....the cost moved up but the concept didnt change.

So having an opinion on whether a game is AAA or not really isnt a thing, if a game has an above average budget its a AAA game.
AAA used to be ~50million, its moved closer to 100 million so now if a game cost around that to get out.....its a AAA game.
It could be ugly as sin with only 3 character models like Genshin Impact, or a technical marvel like The Last of Us.....still AAA game.

Right well that's your opinion and not quite mine although i don't completely disagree with you, as high production value and high cost are both the same thing really in most cases and have separate choices above, i have stated twice already its a combination of the above, so i won't be changing my opinion or selection either, so your entiltled to yours and i will keep mine, and i'm still not interested in Genshin!, but you enjoy your game. i'm not that worked up about this topic as you.

 

[Black_Stride]

Right well that's your opinion and not quite mine although i don't completely disagree with you, as high production value and high cost are both the same thing really in most cases and have separate choices above, i have stated twice already its a combination of the above, so i won't be changing my opinion or selection either, so your entiltled to yours and i will keep mine, and i'm still not interested in Genshin!, but you enjoy your game. i'm not that worked up about this topic as you.

Having opinions on something defined is stupid.
I dont have an opinion on whether humans need oxygen....these are known things, i dont need to have an opinion, its something stated already....a fact.

We have a definition of AAA already.
OP just didnt label it correctly.

The budget of a game dictates if its AAA or not.
Thats not an opinion thats what things are.

Marketing + Development = Budget.
If Budget is high then game is AAA.

Thats the definition of AAA, not my opinion on what the definition is....thats what the definition is.

You can live with your alternative facts if you want, thats on you.
Im just trying to educate you.

You choose which way to go

 

[Syphon Filter]

It's simply just the budget for a game and most don't use that budget well. They waste it on the wrong things though such as walking sims, played out exaggerated set pieces that the gamer can't control himself and just want to be movies instead of a game.

 

[Ezquimacore]

anything with a budget of 75m+ (the last of us, halo infinite, breath of the wild)

 

[rofif]

The game can be 8 hours for all I care.
I prefer it to be good and short rather than full of shit
Some of best games manage to be above 10 hours AND good. rare feat

 

[Elder Legend]

Having opinions on something defined is stupid.
I dont have an opinion on whether humans need oxygen....these are known things, i dont need to have an opinion, its something stated already....a fact.

We have a definition of AAA already.
OP just didnt label it correctly.

The budget of a game dictates if its AAA or not.
Thats not an opinion thats what things are.

Marketing + Development = Budget.
If Budget is high then game is AAA.

Thats the definition of AAA, not my opinion on what the definition is....thats what the definition is.

You can live with your alternative facts if you want, thats on you.
Im just trying to educate you.

You choose which way to go

THANK YOU.