I will just say this. I think, and I may be wrong. We all came to a understanding as to what AAA exactly meant years ago. The definition has nothing to do with budget, and no the developer/manufacturer has no say in the matter. Not that these things do not help along the way. The definition has everything to do with a high average rating of over ninety percent, and sales figures in the millions. Anything below that criteria goes from AA downwards.
That said a games status as a AAA title is not subjective. We after all have ratings compilation sites that give us the games average score, and we have the sales figures. We don't even need the sales figures from this site to figure this out. The developers scream it from the mountain tops if it brings in huge sales. Basically until the sales and reviews come in a game is merely a candidate. Don't buy into the crap that developers spew forth when they say its AAA. Really you want to trust the person selling you something for the defacto value of the product. That is the kind of thinking that is going to get you fleeced in the end. According to these companies we have hundreds of AAA games, and we know that to be total bullshit.
AAA literally means a game that is of fantastic quality, and is fantastically approved of by the public. Very few games ever meet this standard. That is what makes the definition so potent, and why developers covet it so much so that they will use it over and over again. Trying their best to convince us that their game is truly among the chosen that must be bought.
