Slimebeast said:
pokoko said:
No, AAA rank is just a projection of how well a game is expected to sell. Things like production and marketing budget can certainly factor into the analysis but that certainly isn't the whole of it. Retailers don't care how much a game cost to make, they care about what kind of profit it will generate. It's a system designed to tell them what to invest in. When I used to order for my store, looking for AAA beside the name of a game was a fantastic way to separate it from the clutter--and there was a LOT of clutter, especially for the Wii.
People put too much emphasis on AAA status. It's basically just an educated guess about how well a title will perform. A game can cost 5 million but they'll give it AAA rank if the experts believe it will make a lot of money for retailers.
It never was intended to be a way for fans to rank games.
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Really? The definition is based on sales expectations rather than development cost?
I totally never have thought of it that way in all these years even though I have thought about the business side of game development quite a lot.
Interesting.
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This is an example of the order form I used to get from Engram Entertainment -- http://www.docstoc.com/docs/58754489/Where-to-Purchase-Money-Orders-in-Phx
Look at some of the "AAA" titles, like Kirby: Squeak Squad, Eragon, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, a Dragon Ball Z game, a Gundam game, and Red Steel--not to mention the game Cars. Not really what most people would think of as AAA.
