What the Heck Does AAA Even Mean Anymore? | Unpacked

Good vid Nick. I have 3 types of games that always go into the ignore catagory on steam multiplayer only, live service and porn games. Lately there have been quite a few AAAA titles thrown in there as well. For me AAAA = zero value.

It's just a label to indicate the budget assigned to a project for financial reports, which the media inexplicably tries to attach some kind of oracular value to.

Aww, I'm missing from the credits :( Great commentary Nick.

It's also worth noting that Baldur's Gate 3, with its $100 million+ budget, is indie because Larian doesn't have a publisher. The terms indie and AAA to differentiate games based on "size" have long since passed and I do agree that it's time we start using AAA and indie differently, the AAA system being an indication of financial backing and indie being an indicator of publisher presence or not. Maybe we need a new system entirely but I doubt it would be as easy as just telling people to start using new terms. Side note, I do think it's funny that the CEO of Ubisoft tried to call Skull and Bones AAAA despite the origins of AAA not allowing for such a thing to exist. Maybe 4A could mean infinite budget but then we'd also have to call games God of War or anything similarly published by Sony 4A as well.