Define AAA

[theRepublic]

My guess is that the term AAA was borrowed from credit ratings. In the corporate world, a AAA rating is the highest credit rating possible. It means that it is almost 100% likely that your business will pay back all the loans it has. That credit rating also means it is safe to loan a lot of money to the business, and on favorable terms.

I think this term originally meant that a AAA game was a game that was gauranteed to make a big profit. Of course, that means that this term was applied to the biggest and best games and franchises. Over time, it has been warped to mean a game that has high critical acclaim, or a big budget depending on who you ask. The term has lost its connection to the business of games for some reason.