TITLE
Here Come the AAAA Games… But What’s a AAA Game and Why Do We Call Them That?
AUTHOR
John Scalzo
PUBLICATION
Video Game Canon
YEAR
2024 [Originally Published in 2013]
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
With a new generation of consoles almost upon us, there is the worry that the spiraling budgets and massive teams required to create AAA games is hurting the industry. But for all the hand-wringing about how the AAA game is detrimental to mid-size developers, no one can seem to agree on what exactly a AAA game is or when the AAA designation was even first used. In attempting to solve this etymological mystery, I found that the AAA designation shares much in common with Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s obscenity test from a 1964 case: “I know it when I see it.” But I also found out that “Will the AAA game survive?” is probably the wrong question to ask.
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Ryan Henson Creighton
Greg Kasavin
TOPICS MENTIONED
Etymology
ALTERNATE LINK
Earlier Version of Article @ Warp Zoned