PlayStation Plus new free game is the service's first 'AAAA'

The first “quadruple-A” video game ever made just hit PlayStation Plus today… and the crowd goes mild.

Have you ever wondered what people mean when they refer to a triple-A, or AAA, video game?

Like sure, on paper that means a game has a big budget and is being published/developed by a heavy hitter, but what exactly does each A represent, and why has the video game industry capped itself at developing triple-A games?

Well, I can answer that first question: apparently, the term was stolen from the bonds rating system. A triple-A investment opportunity is the safest, implying that a AAA bond is a wise investment.

And I can answer the second question, too: nobody wants to make a quadruple-A game, because Ubisoft already tried doing it and lost a whole boatload of money in the process.

Skull and Bones, a naval and piracy-themed title developed by Ubisoft Singapore, finally released in 2024 after years of delays and a budget of somewhere between 650 and 850 million dollars… and it sucked.

Reviews were terrible, sales were terrible, and everyone immediately forgot about it. Well, until today.

That’s because, as of today, Skull and Bones is now available through PlayStation Plus on PlayStation 5 for Extra and Premium subscribers.

Giving the game away for free as part of a PlayStation Plus subscription, only a year after it originally released, probably isn’t the outcome that Ubisoft wanted, given the hype they were trying to generate for the title prior to its release.

“You will see that Skull and Bones is a full-fledged game," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told investors during a investors call meeting back in 2024 (per PC Gamer).

"It's a very big game and we feel that people will really see how vast and complete that game is. So it's a really full triple-A, quadruple-A game that will deliver in the long run."

Oof, that quote hurts even more in retrospect. I hardly think giving the game away on PlayStation Plus is the “long run” Guillemot was talking about.

Plus, who really wants huge, overbloated games like this, when recent AA-budget titles such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are massive successes, both critically and financially?