With the recent reveal of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the new Xbox, and this week's PlayStation 5 presentation, next gen is right around the corner. Consoles are not the only machines getting 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:beefy upgrades, as the new Nvidia 3000 series graphics cards have also been announced. As gaming machines get more powerful, this means developers have more free reign to make far more graphically intensive games on a larger scale.
The roadmaps for these announcements have been planned out for quite some time, as various companies and consumers alike knew that the next generation of gaming was always on the horizon. Marketing teams have been researching and planning what to focus on to not only appeal to key demographics but a broader audience as well. While it may have been laughed at in its early usage, one marketing tactic is gaining a lot of steam recently. Enter quadruple-A games.
"AAA" is indeed a marketing term borrowed from Wall Street. AAA securities have the highest level of reliability, or in other words a "safe bet." The game industry uses it in much the same way, its a commercial term that indicates the game is very likely to be profitable, mostly because of the significant investment made in developing it. Over the years its come to mean any game released by a big studio and the "safe bet" association has fallen away. AAA simply denotes the game was made by a large development team at a major studio with a sizeable budget.
AAA in no way reflects the quality of the game or any common thread outside the budget. Witcher 3 is as much of a AAA game as Fifa 20. Or that has been the case until recently, as it seems we now have to draw a distinction between AAA and AAAA.
AAAA has become something of a buzz word recently, but the term has been used as early as 2012. Microsoft has been touting the development of AAAA games within its , but the label was used sparingly. As the years progressed, the phrase AAAA-games gained steam, and now that we're moving into the next generation of games, it's likely we'll be seeing it used a lot more.
What separates quadruple-A from triple-A? No, seriously, we're asking what separates them? Grand Theft Auto V's budget, including marketing costs, was $265 million and is one of the most expensive games to develop, but it is a triple-A game. Does that mean we are expecting every quadruple-A title to cost billions? If that is the case, then 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Citizen ওis going to be a pentuple-A game if it ever releases. Are triple-A titles now the new "indie" moving forward? Better yet, what is even going to change with quadruple-A games?
First Of All, What Even Is Triple-A?
"AAA" is indeed a marketing term borrowed from Wall Street. AAA securities have the highest level of reliability, or in other words a "safe bet." The game industry uses it in much the same way, its a commercial term that indicates the game is very likely to be profitable, mostly because of the significant investment made in developing it. Over the years its come to mean any game released by a big studio and the "safe bet" association has fallen away. AAA simply denotes the game was made by a large development team at a major studio with a sizeable budget.
AAA in no way reflects the quality of the game or any common thread outside the budget. Witcher 3 is as much of a AAA game as Fifa 20. Or that has been the case until recently, as it seems we now have to draw a distinction between AAA and AAAA.
Quadruple-A VS Triple-A Gaming: The Extra A Stands For Axtra Graphics
AAAA has become something of a buzz word recently, but the term has been used as early as 2012. Microsoft has been touting the development of AAAA games within its , but the label was used sparingly. As the years progressed, the phrase AAAA-games gained steam, and now that we're moving into the next generation of games, it's likely we'll be seeing it used a lot more.
What separates quadruple-A from triple-A? No, seriously, we're asking what separates them? Grand Theft Auto V's budget, including marketing costs, was $265 million and is one of the most expensive games to develop, but it is a triple-A game. Does that mean we are expecting every quadruple-A title to cost billions? If that is the case, then 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Citizen ওis going to be a pentuple-A game if it ever releases. Are triple-A titles now the new "indie" moving forward? Better yet, what is even going to change with quadruple-A games?
Opening Pandora's Box: Quadruple-A Games
Marketing next-gen titles as AAAA feels dishonest. AAA games have not only given publishers excuses to bleed consumers dry but also work their development teams to the bone. Look at the tale of Anthem, a AAA game meant to take on the likes of Destiny 2. Anthem was riddled with , exhausted teams, and a game that was rushed to meet a deadline.
Even though Anthem's development was a nightmare, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Anthem sold surprisingly well and showed the power of great marketing. We still see AAA games that feel bare-bones on launch only to be fixed later via patches. If those practices are indicative of high-quality games, what is going to happen when the scale is increased tenfold?
When publishers like Ubisoft talk about AAAA games, it feels beyond parody considering their track record. Every Assassins Creed game before release was talked about like it would be revolutionary, and instead, we got years of games that felt like carbon copies. Many high budget games had little innovation or any risk taken to improve gameplay. Ubisoft has been one of the worst offenders at touting a new game as revolutionary and underdelivering. It is hard to take some of these publishers seriously when time after time, they have proven to be dishonest and push either unfinished products or titles that were severely scaled back after promising so much more.
Via: bioware.com[/caption]
It's patronizing when publishers continue to double down on this type of marketing jargon. Big-name companies think that slapping AAAA on a game means it deserves more respect or attention. Of course there will be extraordinary next-gen games that defy all expectation, but just be aware of what is being sold to you. Understand that AAAA is a term to pump up pre-order sales and make investors happy. You don't need to become a cynical stick in the mud, like this hack writer, but take the time to look carefully at a product with a critical lens. AAAA doesn't mean anything quantifiably different than AAA to players, so let's not bother with it.
Quadruple-A Games And You
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Via: bioware.com[/caption]
It's patronizing when publishers continue to double down on this type of marketing jargon. Big-name companies think that slapping AAAA on a game means it deserves more respect or attention. Of course there will be extraordinary next-gen games that defy all expectation, but just be aware of what is being sold to you. Understand that AAAA is a term to pump up pre-order sales and make investors happy. You don't need to become a cynical stick in the mud, like this hack writer, but take the time to look carefully at a product with a critical lens. AAAA doesn't mean anything quantifiably different than AAA to players, so let's not bother with it.