This week’s over the top, ridiculous phrase? AAAAA Gaming. You read that right, Ubisoft isn’t the “King of A’s”. Publisher Devolver Digital has taken the cake and teased a future of even bigger, shinier, and unrealistic games standards, while casually throwing that terminology around, like that just has to be the next natural step after triple-AAA. You know, as if AAA wasn’t already code for “bloated budget, massive scope and endless crunch”.
Sadly, this conversation isn’t happening in a vacuum. With GTA 6 gaining momentum, Hollow Knight: Silksong crashing storefronts and even Devolver’s own projects being depicted as the future of gaming, where a post-AAA world isn’t something to just laugh about anymore.
For PlayStation fans, the only question is clear: How much more does a game have to deliver and – do we even want that to happen?
What Is AAAAA Gaming?
The Five-A gaming space goes beyond the already insane budgets of Triple-A, aiming for even more cinematic quality, an even bigger scope and a justification for the $80 price tag.
GTA 6 has a rumored $2 billion development cost and Silksong, despite being an indie title, is being elevated as being on par with these blockbusters as well.
Sony’s first-party studios are pumping out games like the Last of Us Part II and Spider-Man 2, that already have insanely big budgets but do deliver on the cinematography and the interactive storytelling – it’s just a question of how big do you want your team to be, in order to deliver on even higher stakes.
Our Thoughts on AAAAA Games
“AAAAA gaming” might sound like a joke, but it reflects where the industry is headed. Bigger risks, bigger budgets, and bigger expectations, expectations that in our opinion no development studio on planet earth can positively fill.
For PlayStation fans, that means some jaw-dropping experiences are on the horizon, but it also means we’ll need to keep championing the smaller voices that give gaming its diversity. It comes at an interesting point where indie games are delivering, and AAA games are losing their soul.
