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[Three]

Who even came up with this term?

It apparently came from a game distributor who would mark each game as AAA, A, and B.

"Beside each game was a quality ranking written by the distributor. They were letter ranks that the distributor used to help retailers with their game orders. There were "A" games, "B" games, and "AAA" games. Magically, no game ranked below a "B"."

No idea who that distributor is though.

 

[Ainem Enamas]

1. Budget

+

2. Graphics, especially animation;

OR

3. Control refinement

But you likely need all three to really be considered AAA.

What is 'control refinement'

 

[Randall365]

AAA for me is big budget and highly polished - to the point where it seems like it has been play tested.

 

[Wildebeest]

It's animation. AA can have much better music and it certainly isn't the writing.

 

[Ainem Enamas]

Budget.

What's the starting budget for AAA, the minimum budget, in your opinion

 

[Ainem Enamas]

Who even came up with this term?

While there is no single individual credited with inventing the term "AAA" in gaming, it emerged in the late 1990s as industry shorthand for high-budget, high-stakes projects. It was borrowed from the credit industry's bond ratings, where a "AAA" rating represents the safest, most creditworthy investment.

 

[Loomy]

This what I meant. It feels like AAA because of fire expanding, at least for me. That's the AAA thing in there which feels like that

With UE5, there's going to be a lot of small indie games that "feel like AAA". That's probably a good thing.

 

[Hudo]

What's the starting budget for AAA, the minimum budget, in your opinion

Good question, actually. Maybe $50 million as minimum and $200 million as maximum (although that is also me being generous). I think if your project requires more than that (e.g. Spider-Man 2 or The Last of Us 2 or, infamously, Star Citizen) then that is an indication of the project management fucking up somehow. But obviously those limit bounds are moving targets for each generation. E.g. Super Mario World was an "AAA" game for its time and "only" cost like 2 million dollars or so, which was also a significant amount back then.

 

[mdkirby]

literally budget, and from a major publisher. $150m +
<$100m == AA imo

 

[JayK47]

These days barely any game meets my criteria for AAA. RDR2 for sure. BF6 perhaps. Games from Ubisoft seem to have slipped to AA with a AAA budget. I think activists at these companies blow up the budget as well as chasing out talent, while providing no talent themselves. Game worlds are bigger and more detailed than ever, yet empty, boring and you can hardly interact with them.

 

[Ainem Enamas]

With UE5, there's going to be a lot of small indie games that "feel like AAA". That's probably a good thing.

Good thought

 

[Grildon Tundy]

AA vs AAA is all about budget.

Whether or not something indie or not is removed from budget.

For example, Baldur's Gate 3 is a AAA indie game.

Roughly:
A = <$10M budget
AA = <$50M
AAA = <$300M
AAAA = >$300M

 

[Lucifers Beard]

It really just is budget and marketing in my opinion.

 

[bitbydeath]

This throws a wrench in those saying budget.

 

[Fbh]

Budget, which basically translates into production values.
It's a combination of asset quality and variety, animation, lack of jank, scope, etc.

Ue5 is blurring the lines on the surface, but you can often still tell the game had a lower budget once you play it.

This throws a wrench in those saying budget.

It's one of my favorite games of the last 10 years but you can still tell it's not quite AAA.
From repeated models, to the stiffness in some animation (particularly outside of combat), the fact there's only 1 town and they (smartly) made it so most NPCs are these furry masked creatures that only come in like 4 models (which they make feel more varied with size and color changes) to the lack of things to do outside walking and fighting, etc.

Like I think it's a much better game than FF7 Rebirth for example, but Rebirth still feels way more "AAA".
E33 however is a Masterclass in smartly using limited resources.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Graphics
Production quality

 

[Humdinger]

It's about the budget. I don't think of it as some mark of excellence or anything like that. It's just a measure of how much money the developers and publishers spent on it.

 

[GymWolf]

Production values are probably the first thing you notice but between ue5 enabling devs at their first big game to get on pair or surpass big aaa studios, and some big studios underdelivering like some sony studios, the difference is hard to notice.

And then you have games like hades 2 that has incredible production values but it's still an indie.

The difference nowadays is not as clear as before.

 

[Ainem Enamas]

Budget, which I would normally notice through how much marketing and stuff it has.

For me it's pretty simple and obvious, you just have to look at the project's scope.

1 – Can I see design, visuals, graphics, physics, and enemy AI that actually match what this generation is capable of?
2 – Can I feel gameplay that clearly had a team spending a lot of time planning and refining it?
3 – Can I see professional, well-thought-out level design?
4 – Is the sound and music treated at a cinematic level?
5 – The story doesn't have to be complex, but is it convincing and consistent with the game's aesthetic?

None of this comes easily unless it's an AAA game, because it requires massive investment in people, time, and money. That's why it's expensive, that's why it has value, and that's the best the industry can deliver. At the end of the day, something like GTA VI is what will have the biggest impact and move the gaming industry the most, not only by inspiring ambition in the present and future, but by cementing in players' minds what a truly premium project looks like.

Really like the 1st point you talked about. Because gens are moving forward so the games need adapt to the latest gen

 

[Ainem Enamas]

Pretty much.

I personally wouldn't count marketing as AAA thing

 

[Danjin44]

I personally wouldn't count marketing as AAA thing

Most AA and indie games cant effort to do expensive marketing, they mostly rely on word of mouth.

AAA are the ones who can effort to have big marketing for their games.

 

[Robb]

I personally wouldn't count marketing as AAA thing

Well it's not specifically a AAA thing. It's just one aspect of the budget for all games. It just tends to be a lot higher for AAA.