Summer Game Fest + Summer of Gaming 2023 - May 24th to June 29th

[ArchAngel]

There is way more groups then AAA or indie...

No, not "way more", just one - AA, and even that one's a bit of a stretch. I've seen all sorts of other bullshit terms floating around, like "AA+" or "III", and it's all just delusional hair-splitting from people with way too much time on their hands.

AAA arose as the a videogaming equivalent for film's "blockbuster", a marketing term to distinguish top-dollar flagship productions from the rank-and-file "regular" videogames. Then you got "mobile games", albeit that's just the polite term for braindead toys you distract yourself with while you wait your turn at the barber's. And then, once the industry grew to once again provide a commercial space for small garage developers, you got "indie games", which can describe anything from mobile games on PC to the videogaming equivalent of the short film, the "cheap and cheerful" segment of the industry. The "AA" term itself merely describes what we used to just call "games" without any other qualifier.

That should be enough for all practical purposes, but some people ain't content until videogaming's taxonomy looks like the tangled spaghetti of metal subgenres.

I do not agree. There are so many overlaps now that just having 3 means little. Also when indie can be AA as well. For example PoE1.

 

[Roguey]

No, not "way more", just one - AA, and even that one's a bit of a stretch.

Can't have double-A without single-A.

Also when indie can be AA as well. For example PoE1.

I'd desribe PoE as a single A game because it had a seven digit budget.

As far as I'm concerned

Garage dev - below seven digits
A - seven digits
AA - low eight digits
AAA mid to high eight digits or more

 

[ArchAngel]

No, not "way more", just one - AA, and even that one's a bit of a stretch.

Can't have double-A without single-A.

Also when indie can be AA as well. For example PoE1.

I'd desribe PoE as a single A game because it had a seven digit budget.

As far as I'm concerned

Garage dev - below seven digits
A - seven digits
AA - low eight digits
AAA mid to high eight digits or more

That metric does not work as development costs vary wildly depending where you are in the world. Probably better to use size of development teams as metric

 

[Roguey]

That metric does not work as development costs vary wildly depending where you are in the world. Probably better to use size of development teams as metric

That also works.
Garage dev - single digit team or not much over
A - 20-40
AA - more than 50
AAA - more than 100

 

[Gargaune]

That metric does not work as development costs vary wildly depending where you are in the world. Probably better to use size of development teams as metric

That also works.
Garage dev - single digit team or not much over
A - 20-40
AA - more than 50
AAA - more than 100

The only reason we care how much money or staff the dev throws at a project is because it should be reflected in the caliber of experience we get. And that correlates to price, so rule of thumb - everything up to around €30 is indie, you've got your AA around the €40-60 mark, and then €70 for AAA. Don't scoff, price bracket is typically an excellent indication of production value, edge cases notwithstanding. Unless it's No Man's Sky, which is in a market segment of its own - "shameless fucking rip-off."

 

[Infinitron]

 

[toro]

this looks interesting...

 

[duskvile]