What are AAA games? | Trusted reviews

Whether you’re a gaming veteran or just stepping into the world for the first time, you’ve probably heard of AAA (pronounced triple-A) games. But what are they and what does a AAA game usually involve?

Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about AAA games.

What are AAA games?

AAA games are games that are produced with a high budget, usually by a large and well-known publisher, such as EA, Ubisoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Xbox Game Studios, Nintendo, and others.

The term was originally coined in the 1990s and now refers to hundreds of games on the market.

Although there is no limit to how much money should be spent on a AAA game, they usually cost a lot to produce and a lot to market, with many recent examples, such as Elden Ring or Horizon Forbidden West, featuring high-fidelity visuals and huge interactive worlds .

AAA games usually have huge teams working on them, while an indie game (like Hollow Knight or Stardew Valley) might only have one or two people creating the game. It’s important to remember that a AAA game is still not a guaranteed sign of quality, as they can still launch with poor visuals and many performance issues, as Cyberpunk 2077 recently proved.

And while AAA games may have much bigger budgets and larger development teams, they also have less creative freedom than indie titles. This is one of the many reasons why a lower budget game can offer a more enjoyable experience than a AAA game.

AAA games also typically require a powerful CPU and GPU to run efficiently, often supporting high-end features like ray tracing. AAA games also often cost a lot of money, usually around £50 and £70 for a standard edition.

What other types of games are there?

The two main types of games are AAA and indie. AAA games have a huge development team and a big budget, while indie titles have the opposite.

But there are also games that fall somewhere in between. The term “AA game” was coined recently and is used to refer to Life Is Strange and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. These titles have big publishers and a significant budget, but they are not on the same scale as God of War, Halo Infinite and Call of Duty.

There are no hard boundaries for such classifications, so everything is very subjective. It’s also worth noting that acquisitions can blur the boundaries of a game’s classification. One of the most popular indie games ever created is Minecraft, and it was originally created by one person. However, Minecraft has since been acquired by Minecraft and now has access to more money and developers.