AAA Games

[Sources are at bottom, didn't have time to make them look pretty and be linked, sorry! Will fix for final version] AAA Games (pronounced “triple A games”) are video games that are comparable to movie blockbusters, and are most distinguished by their massive development and marketing budgets. They are meant to be a game development company’s best work and provide a high quality video game experience. Aside from this, there are a number of other common features that these games posses. Though there is no limit on genre, unifying themes among these games are usually photorealistic graphics, game worlds of massive scale, cross-platform releases, and violence. Obviously there are certain exemptions for each of these qualities, but on the whole, these trends hold. However, money is by far the most important factor in determining whether a game is AAA or not, and equally important to these games’ massive budgets is their massive expected revenue and profit. Today, AAA games are expected to sell over 1 million copies, and often provide a multiple-of-cost return on investment for publishers. AAA games are often the most culturally relevant video games because of their massive marketing campaigns--with titles such as Call of Duty, FIFA, and the Pokemon series becoming household names.

History

The term AAA is relatively new, as video games have only started to demand and bring massive sums of money within the past two decades. AAA is derived from the US system of grading where A is the highest possible mark. Each A has a different meaning: the first A denotes “critical success”, the second A marks “innovative gameplay”, and the third is meant to signify commercial success. This notation was first adopted by game development countries at gaming expos such as E3 or GDC to mark games that were of high quality. However, these three meanings have come to mean less and less as the notion of a AAA game has gravitated towards simply being a game that is produced and developed with a massive budget. Titles nowadays are often considered “AAA” before they are even released, simply because of the amount money involved in production, and also because of the precedent set by earlier titles (e.g. the Call of Duty series). This happens most frequently with companies or franchises that have established reputations, because players expect similar high quality experiences before actually even playing the game.

=== Common features ===

Massive marketing and development budget

This is above and and beyond the most important feature for AAA titles. The recent Grand Theft Auto V received almost equal budgets for development and advertising: roughly $125 million each. To date, this game has sold 32.5 million copies (at $60 apiece), generating massive profits for developer Rockstar, and is now the 8th best selling video game of all time. Some titles may even receive more money for their marketing than their development: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s marketing budget was three times that of its development budget! (150 million and 50 million, respectively). However, this game has grossed over $780 million dollars and is in the top 20 highest grossing games of all time. Yet, massive revenue is not necessarily a feature of AAA titles because there are instances of these games being financial failures. The most recent example is Tomb Raider (2013), which had a total budget of over $100 million, but was considered a failure because it only sold 3.6 million copies in the first month--500,000 short of production company Square Enix’s goals.

Released on all major platforms

Inherently this feature of AAA games is tied to the frequently mentioned common theme of big budget and big revenue. Simply put, AAA developers have a strong financial incentive to develop for all major platforms in order to increase their potential audience. This usually entails all main consoles (though this has been confusing in the current switch between console generations) and PC/OSx (these are usually secondary to consoles). If a triple A title is released as a console exclusive, the console maker will often pay for this exclusivity to offset the potential lost profit to the developer.

Game-worlds of massive scale and photo-realistic graphics

Once again, this is tied to the big budget and big revenue these games expect. The video games arms race to develop more and more realistic graphics is a big reason why AAA titles have such high development budgets. These titles now frequently tout the spectacle and technological feat of having such realistic graphics as major selling points for triple A games. The race to create the best graphics is seen especially in AAA shooters, sports, and RPG games.

==== Violence ==== There is no clear explanation as to why AAA titles are usually violent, but it is undeniably the case. Most speculation concludes that it is because violence is universally understood and generally provokes adrenaline--two features that developers often strive to include in a quality game. Notable examples of AAA games without violence are most sport games, music games, and some Nintendo titles.

==== Small gameplay changes across iterations ==== The massive amount of money pumped into these games often makes developers relatively cautious in the changes they make to conventional mechanics. There is a financial incentive to stick with a tried and true formula, so AAA titles rarely push genre boundaries. Instead, it is common to see games with small changes made across iterations, such as in the FIFA or Call of Duty series.

=== Genres and examples === Action RPGs [Description] Examples:

• Mass Effect
• GTA
• Bioshock

Shooters: First and Third Person [Description] Examples:

• CoD
• Halo
• Bioshock

Sports [Description] Examples:

• FIFA
• Madden
• NBA 2K

MMORPG [Description]

• WoW

http://prospect.org/article/triple-games-pretty-and-brain-dead http://gameindustry.about.com/od/glossary/g/Aaa-Game.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_Gaming_industry#cite_note-AAA_Games-8 http://kotaku.com/5913421/is-all-this-violence-really-what-video-games-are-made-of http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Most_expensive_video_games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-top-10-highest-grossing-video-games-of-all-time-2012-6?op=1 http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-26-tomb-raider-has-sold-3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations