In promo campaigns, publishers and developers regularly claim to be releasing a AAA project. Some studios even develop AAAA games. It often feels like gaming media are shouting at us to buy yet another blockbuster game with a huge development and marketing budget.
Let’s break down what these letters actually mean and whether they’re worth paying attention to when choosing a game.
Why So Many A’s
In short: the more A’s, the more complex and expensive the game.
In the early days of video game development, budgets were labeled with letters: A, B, and C. As technology advanced and the gaming industry became more profitable, studios took on increasingly ambitious goals—requiring larger investments in development and marketing.
Eventually, even single-A budgets were no longer enough, so more expensive projects began to receive additional A’s. For example, A-class games from the ’90s cost around $10–15 million, while today’s Triple-A projects—aka AAA—have no upper budget limit.
By 2023, experts claimed that a modern blockbuster game couldn’t cost less than $100 million to make—and that baseline keeps rising every year.
Pawel Sasko, who worked on blockbusters *The Witcher 3* and *Cyberpunk 2077*, believes the industry has set such a high standard that it’s becoming unsustainable: “I think we’re all just running straight into a damn wall—and we’re going to crash very soon.”
What Are AA Games?
Interestingly, the Double-A or AA category came after Triple-A. The term was coined to distinguish mid-tier games from blockbuster titles. In addition to lower budgets, AA games generally fall short of top-tier projects in certain aspects—graphics, gameplay design, complexity, and world-building. Yet, AA games often earn ratings comparable to the less successful AAA titles.
There are no strict financial or technological standards. Even in respected publications, rating systems remain highly subjective, and few projects identify themselves as AA games. Some recognized titles include *The Outer Worlds* and *Xenoblade Chronicles*, but most gamers would struggle to name other recent mid-range projects.
Expensive blockbusters generate revenue by attracting large player bases with stunning visuals, polished gameplay, and other features made possible by strong funding. Indie games are so cheap to make that they can be built with little more than enthusiasm or donations from a small community.
But “mid-tier” projects often fall into a dead zone: too costly to be passion projects, yet not profitable enough to be viable commercially. Back in 2011, Cliff Bleszinski, head of Epic Games, famously said: “The middle class of gaming is dead.”
What Are AAA Games?
AAA games are high-budget projects that require a lot of development time, a lot of money, and massive technical and human resources. In fact, the three A’s are often jokingly interpreted as: a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of resources.
To break even, these games must achieve huge sales. As a result, marketing often takes precedence. To avoid financial failure, studios tend to avoid risks and sell what has worked in the past.
That said, when things go right, AAA games are often the ones that deliver groundbreaking and memorable gaming experiences.
One of the first games ever labeled as Triple-A was *Final Fantasy VII* in 1997, which cost $40 million to make. A more recent example, *GTA V*, cost Rockstar around $265 million. Today, the average AAA project takes 2–3 years to develop, involves a team of at least 100 people, and starts with a budget of $50 million.
Triple-A games come with sky-high expectations—especially from the studios themselves, who need to recoup their investments. To do that, they start promoting their games long before release—selling the idea as early as the development stage.
Most of the time, this benefits everyone involved: gamers get their blockbuster experience, and studios earn enough to fund future projects. But failures are also more visible—the higher you rise, the harder you fall. Just remember *Fallout 76* or the rocky early months of *Cyberpunk 2077*.
What Does AAAA or AAA+ Mean?
How do you stand out when any large budget game is already considered Triple-A and there are no clear financial thresholds? You emphasize your uniqueness—by becoming a AAAA or AAA+ title.
The quad-A label is used to show that a project has even more money, time, and resources behind it than other blockbusters. For example, *Dead Space 3* from Electronic Arts and *Beyond Good & Evil 2* from Ubisoft were referred to as AAAA games.
CD Projekt RED took a different approach with *The Witcher 3*, labeling it AAA+. These games introduced new models of distribution and support. Features like early access to content, in-game purchases, and easy access to expansions allowed developers and publishers to implement new monetization strategies.
Companies began turning their games into long-term services, retaining players by offering ongoing updates and new content for additional fees.
Essentially, this is Triple-A with more complex monetization. These games often end up costing players much more than standard blockbusters. But players typically don’t factor in the price of DLCs, skins, maps, or extra features—they just want to keep playing longer and better. That said, sometimes monetization becomes so aggressive it causes backlash—like the loot box scandal in *Star Wars Battlefront II*, which was even investigated as potential gambling.
What Are III Games?
Triple-I games are essentially the indie equivalent of Triple-A. These are independent titles that match AAA games in terms of budget, scale, or ambition.
This became possible thanks to the rise of crowdfunding platforms, which allowed quality projects to raise significant funding without publisher restrictions.
Digital storefronts with low fees and easy access helped indie developers reach a wide player base.
The publishing landscape has also evolved. Friendly indie publishers like 505 Games and Devolver Digital now support developers with resources while minimizing interference in the creative process.
This segment continues to grow because it’s not bound by the same financial and creative limitations as AAA titles. More and more studios are being formed by former AAA developers now applying their experience to the indie space.
One of the most striking examples of a Triple-I game is *Warhammer: The End Times — Vermintide*, developed over two years by a 50-person team. The result was a game worthy of a console release in boxed format.
Platform holders like Microsoft, Sony, Valve, and Nintendo are increasingly investing in this segment, so we can expect even more III titles to emerge.
Quick Summary: AA, AAA, AAAA, and III Games
- AA games — the "middle class" of gaming. They have smaller budgets than Triple-A and usually lower review scores. They may lack in areas such as graphics, gameplay, or narrative depth.
- AAA games — the blockbusters of gaming. These projects involve massive teams, long development cycles, and large investments in production and marketing.
- AAAA games / AAA+ — either ultra-blockbusters with even greater budgets and resources, or AAA games that evolve into live services with continuous paid content updates.
- III games — independent projects that rival AAA games in quality, ambition, and scope. Not yet widespread, but growing rapidly thanks to digital distribution, crowdfunding, and indie-friendly publishers.
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