Video games have exploded in popularity in our modern age. Instead of getting games of all kinds of budgets, ranging from medium, AA games to big-budget AAA games, game developers have seemingly taken a more long-term approach. Many games nowadays take years to come out, cost sometimes more than blockbusters, and on top of all of that hype and anticipation, don’t even perform all that well in the eyes of critics and fans.
I look a lot at the gaming landscape as a whole, but also at some of my personal favorite series. I’ve realized that many of the series that I love and play all the time have been releasing fewer and fewer games in recent years. Hype cycles for games nowadays are just blown out of proportion. How many times must game shows and trailer events say “control your expectations”? It’s because nowadays, a game in a franchise will only come out once a generation, and that needs to stop.
AAA Flops and AA Shines
Anybody who’s even in the surface-level know of the gaming industry can see that many recently released big-budget games have not been doing well. Just look at the big AAA games this year like Skull and Bones and Suicide Squad. Both are games that many fans were initially excited about but disappointed these same fans in many aspects. Suicide Squad in particular is a shame for a myriad of reasons.
Rocksteady was once one of the most well-regarded developer studios in gaming. This is due to their Batman Arkham games and how high quality they were. These games single-handedly changed superhero games, as well as modern gaming due to their combat innovation and compelling storytelling. Now, a decade later, they release a live-service looter shooter that spits in the face of not only the fans but also the beloved characters. How the mighty have fallen. AA games have not been having similar issues that AAA games have.
Not-So Recent Releases
I want to go back to what I mentioned about the video game series that I love. Final Fantasy is one of my favorite series in all of gaming. These games have had their fair share of AA and AAA releases. The main series FF games have always outshined the AA games due to their budget, story, and importance. A new, numbered installment in the series is always a huge deal. Look back to the PS1 era. FF 7,8,9 and 10 were all released from 1997 to 2001. That’s an insane turnaround, but it really was a great way to experience the new stories this series had.
I’m not saying we should get yearly releases for games, but look. FF 15 came out in 2016, and FF16 came out in 2023. That time gap is just insane. Every seven years a new game comes out. Once a generation? That’s too long of a wait. If this series had some lesser AA releases, it would make the wait not as bad. The 7 Remake games have been released in the time in between admittedly, but those games are AAA, not AA.
AA Games and Their Future
When I think of an AA game that matches my vision for what developers should do, I think of Hi-Fi Rush. This rhythm-action game came out earlier last year, and it was shadow-dropped. This game not only reviewed well but was really beloved by fans. It was originally an Xbox and PC exclusive, but recently, it was ported to PlayStation platforms due to its popularity. This was a great game with a ton of production value and charm.
It didn’t cost that much to make, well, not as much compared to the GTAs and the Cyberpunks. Again, while many of these modern game series are great, the cost and time sunk into making them are just too much. GTA 6 is coming out supposedly next year. When was 5 released? 2013. I was a child back then. It’s crazy how much longer the wait times are getting for these games, and if more AA games were made, it would not only enrich the gaming landscape’s creativity, but it would give developers more money and resources to make the bigger budget games.
About The Author
Nicolas Scagnelli is a young and ambitious writer. He graduated with a degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing at Binghamton University. As an undergrad, he published over 60 op-eds for the campus newspaper, Pipe Dream. Nicolas has his own personal blog, Lunch with Nick, where he posts daily about various topics ranging from entertainment to music to mental health. Other than writing, Nicolas loves to spend time in the gym, reading, listening to music, and hanging out with family and friends.
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