this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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wtf does "AA" and "AAA" even mean, like, why do they need different batteries.?
besides, I thought, batteries were totally out...
AA is a game that is a normal full sized game, but was made on a budget that limited scope. Good examples are the Metro series or Balatro. AAA is your normal games with big budgets. AAAA is a special title for Skull and Bones, it means you spend a gigantic amount of money and make sure the whole thing sucks.
Balatro is indie, songs isn't it? Developed by a single dude with probably zero budget
Yeah, maybe not a good AA example, just couldn't think of a second one off the top of my head.
Clair obscur expedition 33
Basically everything Nintendo makes is AA, they just charge AAA+ prices for them.
Larian and Hazelight are AA
Hyperstrange games and Revolver Digital.
Dungeons of Hinterwald is a fantastic AA game, if you haven't played it.
Balatro has a publisher, Playstack. While they put very little money into traditional advertising, Playstack absolutely had a calculated marketing campaign that nailed success by getting specific streamers on board.
This technically makes it not 'indie' as they have a publisher but the indie/AA/AAA labels are kind of ridiculous.
Studio size/development costs
Goku explained it once in front of Buu.
AAA is smaller, too, so I'm not sure why they think it's better
I believe the AAA term actually originates from investing. In investing, a "AAA" investment is one where everyone is pretty confident that it'll be a positive return. It got a bit of use in the games industry to mean games that were expected to sell well no matter the what. It eventually got warped into just meaning big games with big budgets, and people started using the "AA" term to mean "like AAA but not as much"
The wikipedia article does a better job of explaining it
TIL, thanks!
I'd bet on JRPG rank rules; D, C, B, A, A+, A++, S, S+ and as many S' they bloody want in order to make S tier worthless. Instead of doing the sane thing and adjusting the criteria for a rank.
But in this case there is no Ds Cs or Bs, only As.