AAA (video game industry)

AAA (pronounced "triple-A") is an informal classification used for video games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, typically having higher development and marketing budgets. AAA game development is associated with high economic risk and with high levels of sales required to obtain profitability.

In the mid 2010s the term AAA+ began to be used to describe AAA type games that generated additional revenue over time in a similar fashion to MMOs by using software as a service (SaaS) methods, such as season passes or expansion packs.

The term is analogous to the film industry term "blockbuster".[1]

History

The term "AAA" began to be used in the late 1990s, when some development companies started using the expression at gaming conventions in the US.[2]

By the seventh generation of video game consoles (late 2000s) AAA game development on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 game consoles typically cost in the low tens of millions of dollars ($15 to 20m) for a new game, with some sequels having even higher total budgets - for example Halo 3 is estimated to have had a development cost of $30m, and a marketing budget of $40m.[3] According to a whitepaper published for EA games (Dice Europe) the seventh generation saw a contraction in the number of video game developing houses creating AAA level titles, reducing from an estimated 125 to around 25, but with a roughly corresponding fourfold increase in staffing required for game development.[4]

During the seventh generation, AAA (or "blockbuster") games had marketing at a similar level to high-profile films, with television, billboard and newspaper advertising; a corresponding increasing reliance of sequels, reboots and similarly franchised IP was also seen, in order to minimize risk. Costs at the end of the generation had risen as high as the hundreds of millions of dollars - the estimated cost of Grand Theft Auto V was ~$265m. The same conditions also drove the growth of the indie game scene at the other end of the development spectrum, where lower costs enabled innovation and risk taking.[5]

At around the period of transition from seventh to eighth generation of consoles the cost of AAA development was considered by some to be a threat to the stability of the industry.[6][7] The failure of a single game to meet production costs could lead to the closure of a studio - Radical Entertainment was closed by parent Activision despite selling an estimated 1 million units on console in a short period after release.[6][8] Ubisoft game director Alex Hutchinson described the AAA franchise model as potentially harmful, stating he thought it led to either focus group tested products aimed at maximizing profit, and or a push towards ever higher graphics fidelity and impact at a cost of depth or gameplay.[9]

The eighth generation of video game consoles (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U) saw further increases in costs and staffing - at Ubisoft AAA game development involved 400 to 600 persons for open world games, split across multiple locations and countries.[10]

The desire for profitability caused publishers to look at alternative revenue models, where players continued to contribute revenue after the initial purchase, either by premium models, DLC, online passes, and other forms of subscription.[7] In the mid 2010s large publishers began a focus on games engineered to have a long tail in terms of revenue from individual consumers, similar to the way MMO games generate income - these included those with expansion or season pass content such as with Destiny, Battlefield, and the Call of Duty series; and those which generated revenue from selling in-game items, sometimes purely cosmetic, such as Overwatch or League of Legends.[11] Titles of this type are sometimes referred to as "AAA+".

AAA game development has been identified as one environment where crunch time and other working pressures that negatively affect the employees are particularly evident.[12][13]

The console videogame industry lacks the equivalent of a B movie, made for TV, or direct-to-video scene. However, games with very low production costs that are not critically well received are sometimes referred to as "bargain bin" titles.[7]

AAA+

The term "AAA+" has been used by independent video game company CD Projekt in an attempt to promote their new content as being of a very high quality, despite being technically an indie game;[14] additionally the term has been used with a different meaning to figuratively describe AAA games with additional methods of revenue generation, generally through purchases in addition to the cost of the base game.[11] In 2016, Gameindustry.biz described AAA+ games as products that "combine AAA production values and aesthetics with Software as a Service (SaaS) principles to keep players engaged for months or even years".[15]

In general use the term "AAA+" may refer to a subset of AAA games that are the highest selling or have the highest production values.

Triple-I

Triple-I (or Triple-i) has been used to refer to independently funded games (see Indie game) that meet an analogous quality level in their field; i.e., Indie games that are relatively high budget, scope, and ambition.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Steinberg, Scott (2007). The definitive guide: Videogame marketing and PR (First ed.). USA: iUniverse, Inc. ISBN 978-0-59543-371-1.
  2. ↑ Demaria, Rusel; Wilson, John (2002). High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (First ed.). USA: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media. ISBN 0-07-222428-2.
  3. ↑ Zackariasson, Peter; Wilson, Timothy L., eds. (2012), The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future, Routledge, p. 4
  4. ↑ Robinson, Andy (4 July 2013), "Triple-A console studios 'declined by 80% this gen', says EA exec", www.computerandvideogames.com, archived from the original on 8 July 2013
  5. ↑ "Why video games are so expensive to develop", www.economist.com, 24 Sep 2014
  6. 1 2 Usher, William (2012), "AAA Games Could Lead To Mainstream Crash", www.cinemablend.com
  7. 1 2 3 "The State of Games : State of AAA", www.polygon.com, 2 July 2012
  8. ↑ Usher, William (2012), "Radical Entertainment Goes Bust, Prototype Franchise Is No More", www.cinemablend.com
  9. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (8 Mar 2012), "Pursuit of AAA is a 'cancerous growth' - AC3 dev", www.gamespot.com, archived from the original on 9 Mar 2012
  10. ↑ Weber, Rachel (28 Feb 2013), "On Reflections: First interview with the Ubisoft studio's new MD", www.gamesindustry.biz
  11. 1 2 Fahey, Rob (25 Nov 2016), "Weak AAA launches are a precursor to industry transition", www.gamesindustry.biz
  12. ↑ Kerr, Chris (7 Oct 2016), "AAA game dev lifestyle is 'unwinnable,' says veteran game designer Amy Hennig", www.gamasutra.com
  13. ↑ Strickland, Derek (22 Jan 2016), "Ex-Ubisoft dev reveals the grim reality of AAA games development", www.tweaktown.com
  14. ↑ Purchese, Robin (18 Nov 2011), "Witcher dev making two "AAA+" games for 2014/15", www.eurogamer.net
  15. ↑ Fahey, Rob (9 Dec 2016), "Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian: The Last of their Kind", www.gamesindustry.biz
  16. ↑ Lemme, Bengt (23 Jan 2016), "The Triple-I Revolution", www.gamereactor.eu
  17. ↑ Jaffit, Morgan (30 Aug 2015), "Indipocalypse, or the birth of Triple-I?", medium.com
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