Ubisoft has caught a bit of flak in recent years for their game Skull and Bones. It’s a pirate simulator, inspired by Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, that was seemingly stuck in development hell for many years. On the run-up to launching that game, the developer came out and said it was the world’s first AAAA game. What?
Sure, we all know what a AAA game is, it’s a shorthand we’ve created to say that a game is high-budget, it’s a blockbuster, it’s going to attempt to set the world alight. Calling something AAAA just sets it up for failure, something many believed was destined for Skull and Bones anyway.
The next Witcher title is scheduled to be one of the biggest games of all-time
Now, CD Projekt Red has got in on this by claiming, jokingly, that their next game would be AAAAA. That’s five letters this time. When Karolina Gnaś, CD Projekt Red’s VP of Investor Relations, was asked if they would elevate their own status to match Ubisoft, Gnaś simply replied, “Ours will be AAAAA.”
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That definitely left a scorch mark on Ubisoft. Ironically, the next game from CD Projekt Red is one of the most anticipated games of all time with The Witcher 4, so we could see this jibe as braggadocious too. Of course, this is a playful jab from one developer to another, but it does highlight how nonsensical the original comment was from Ubisoft. We don’t need more shorthands, especially one that seemingly introduces a new level of supposed quality. If anything, the divide between AAA and everything around that seems unfair in an age where indie developers are producing potential ‘Game of the Year’ titles, or small-budget and small-scale games are capturing the hearts of players.
Don’t set yourself up for failure, or ridicule. Just show us the trailers and tell us why you think the game is great, without the labels.
Featured Image Credit: Ubisoft, CD Projekt RedTopics: CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher, The Witcher 3, Ubisoft