Game becomes AAA or truly AAA when

Quality of the game and the content in the game is what matters!

AAA should be a classification of games of high quality and polish, however many indie games that meet this criteria wont ever be considered AAA because they do not appear technically sophisticated enough.

You can make a rock-solid, highly polished, 2D platform game but no-one is going to classify it as a AAA title in this day and age.

I cynically associate AAA status more closely with the size of the marketing budget than the actual quality of the game. Since big marketing budgets come from big publishers, the assumption is that any game from a big publisher will be a AAA game.

AAA is a stigma of the commercial sell outs, not a badge of honor for the best games that it should be.

AAA games just means you make a game with a big publisher behind you. Indie games are independent developers meaning you fund the project yourself or have a smallish investment.

AAA doesn't really have anything to do with the quality of the game really it's all about the publishers.

Quality and the developers love for the game. When you make a game of love it goes Halo: Reach/BF3. When you make for money, it goes CoD.

Nobody really likes CoD.

It's all about what the players think.

I have voted for the second option, but I wanted to go for a combination of the first and the second option. The definition of AAA games I know is "A high quality game that has received a lot of funding from a publisher".

According to that definition there aren't that many AAA games left nowadays. (And no, don't go yelling YAY INDIES because indie <> small and/or good games).

Quality and polish makes AAA games? Don't make me laugh.

Nowadays games of big companies are considered AAA games. Even if they lack polish, content, and quality. A few eye-candy visuals are just enough. And it should cost at least $49.99, but preferably $59.99. That makes a game an AAA game.

what does AAA mean? -__-

Go Tetris, go!

imho, AAA games are the ones which are the most entertaining, have well made back story, using the new technologies or just genius in their simpleness

quality is everything! and i belive it also includes polish, right ?

Err, what does AAA mean? Please do explain what the shortings means in the polls!

I think if a game is very well made so that it's still fun and exciting 5 or ten years down the line because those who made the game though outside the box that earns it something. I think the test of time is a big part. If your game is the best seller for opening day but fails to keep people interested it's not so great.

I voted for "The game is of high quality and received a lot of polish," because for the most part, that's what I believe a AAA game should be.

On a more down note, it really is ending up being more like "It is made by a famous and widely known developer."

I had to vote something just to find out what AAA even means :S

I honestly don't care what any of you say about a Triple A game requiring a huge budget. There are many indie games I have seen that I would actually consider AAA. There are also many mods that I would consider AAA. There are also many engine-modded games that I would considered AAA. However, many of these games and mods, no one else would consider AAA. I believe more it IS on the polish and how great the game itself is.

If a game sells at more expensive than $49.99; then it is AAA. Nothing else makes a game AAA.

I'd say it has the most to do with being fun to play, which usually means that the game is of high quality and received a lot of polish.

Quality and content!

I personally don't like to think of games as AAA or Indie or whatever. Games are games no matter how you cut it.

First you need ..."The game is of high quality and received a lot of polish" which then creates this ... "Receives highly positive reviews and positive critical reception everywhere" which almost always results in this "Many copies of it were sold or shipped". lol... its funny cuz its true.

This question is a little subjective.

My personal view of what a AAA game to be is all about it being a high quality game with a lot of polish.

However in the gaming industry in general it seems more as if it is determined by the amount of money thrown at it and who is developing it. In essence a major company can take a dump in a box, mark it as AAA+ title, advertise it as such, and it is somehow still a AAA+ title, despite it in reality being a tud in a box. According to the gaming industry today. ( This is a reference to a Chris Farley movie )

what AAA actually means is "Its developers received a big publisher's funding to continue development", i find this poll a bit silly. AAA is just a classification, not a rating.

*Edit- Well i be **, aaa is a synonym for excelent, i really thought what i said first, since that what most people think aaa means. Thx wikipedia!

AAA games are those which developers choose to fund and market as such. Everything that happens post-release, the reception, quality and content of the experience is irrelevant. The unit was sold and that's where the publishers cease to care, unless they want additional money in the form of online passes and dlc.

Please, if you try to apply the wikipedia's definition to the AAA in gaming then please review the list of AAA titles released.
AAA means, if anything, 'mediocre overall'.

AAA is not indicative of quality for the game anymore, it is mainly funding. A lot of games considered to be "AAA" titles (for some reason, Call of Duty keeps getting called this) are absolute crap.

Society itself, the industry, and the media are changing the definition on us.

Other:

When all the reviewers have been sufficiently bribed by the publisher.

"Receives highly positive reviews and positive critical reception everywhere"

Does that mean indie games can't be highly reviewed and well known?
*cough*
Minecraft

It's all about the quality.

Ultimately what matters are the opinions of the consumers, so I went with the "successful reviews" option. In reality though, "AAA title" pretty much literally translates into "big-budget game".

"AAA title" doesn't necessarily mean "good game", and vice versa. For example Minecraft is not and never was considered a AAA game but it's probably the most popular game in the world right now.

Sure games can be of high quality, but even then there are possibilities of a really buggy or poorly designed gameplay. Time and effort put from the devs is how AAA games are formed IMO.

I voted the option of a game receiving all-round good reviews. In my opinion, AAA games are made to generate income, not customer satisfaction. Indie games are made for the enjoyment of a target audience, and generally not for large amounts of income. As an example; many people will still refer to Minecraft as an indie title, as it once was; but the copious amount of revenue has caused it to go AAA. Minecraft started as a game targeted toward players of Rougelikes and building games. Because of it's freak success nearly everyone, in the target audience or not, owns a copy of the game. Therefore, in my opinion, it has become a AAA title from overall good reviews and steady income from the entire population of gamers, not just a small portion.

I suspect the people clicking the first answer because it is too hard to differ between all the answers.

i have no idea what so ever, so I chose one at random. Over 21 years of gaming and i haven't a clue what AAA means. I chose loads of features answer... I guess I was wrong then.