Why it's time to stop hating AAA games

GamesRadar - In the past few years we’ve seen a swell of hatred for what the games industry calls ‘AAA games’. For those who don’t know, AAA games are the biggest blockbusters of the year; the multi-million sellers with the multi-million dollar budgets. Think Call of Duty: Ghosts, GTA 5, Battlefield, or FIFA. They’re the most highly-polished and popular games available, and for the most-part they get the biggest scores. And--similar to other media like films and music--that popularity can bring resentment.

[admiralvic]

It's sad, but I don't need to read this article to know it's stupid.

The simple fact it's AAA, means that people are more likely to play it and that in turn makes it more likely for someone to dislike it. You'll probably never read a hate article about Orgarhythm or anything, because the only people buying it are the ones that are sure they would enjoy it. The other reason is that people don't waste the time to call out a small game like Neptunia, for two reasons. The first being that so few people have actually played it, that the article wouldn't get views and really their opinion would be read by so few people that it would be a waste of time. The other is that these games typically get excuses for why they're the way they're. Like Neptunia didn't have a big budget, so reusing resources / elements isn't really a huge deal, where as the same happening in a game like GoW A (with a rumored 50,000,000 budget)... well it's hard to justify the same thing.

In either case, AAA games are not some magical group of games that are automatically perfect because a lot of money was spent on them. We've seen plenty of awful games in the or near the AAA category, so it's not like it's impossible to hate them either. In the end, this is like asking us not to call out CoD for any reason, since any negative opinion is automatically invalidated by sales, but in reality it's okay to dislike something if you can RATIONALIZE it in a calm and productive matter. In the event you can't rationalize your opinion, then keep it to yourself. No need to call something out when you yourself can't explain why you feel the way you do.

[AHall88]

There will always be groups of people who think it's cool to hate popular things. Best to just ignore that bunch and move on.

[Jyndal]

It's not about hatred.
It's about demanding more from those that have more resources to put towards games than the smaller developers do. If you're Rockstar, Capcom, Ubisoft, EA, or Bethesda, you have an increased obligation to present top notch, ultra polished games.
I support the smaller, independant developers because that's where I find the innovation lacking from many of today's "AAA" games.

[CEOSteveBallmer]

If an indie game can do it, Why can't a high budget game do it??. Im sorry but almost all innovations are done by AAA games. Call of duty - Modern FPS mechanic, Resident evil 4 - over the shoulder camera, gears of war - cover system, Final Fantasy VII - first 3D JRPG, Elder scrolls series - open world RPG, Metal gear solid series - stealth action genre, Resident Evil series - Survival horror, Mario - platforming.

Bottomline: Whether some of my examples are old but in their time, they are a big budget game. thus making them AAA by todays words. Yes, mario is a big budget game in the 80's. its not a casual and indie game. but a core game.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

I love AAA games.

Quite a lot of people on the net have elitist attitudes and are very anti mainstream. They will just hate on something for being popular just because it's popular (even without fully playing it).

[Why o why]

There's room for all types of games. Our preferences shouldn't mean we hate the types of games and experiences we don't prefer. Live and let live.

Some of the practices of those able to better afford the production of aaa games has been questionable. I would expect the smaller indies would need to use the models used by the large companies more than they do.

[cyguration]

Gamers don't hate on AAA gamers because "it's cool", many hate on them because they're attached to some really stupid practices. But you can always count on gaming media not to take that into consideration.

I was at one point baffled at all the pro-corporate shill articles from websites TELLING gamers what they should and should not hate and who they should and should not hate.

At this junction, I've come to terms of accepting that gaming media will NEVER be on the side of gamers and NEVER be on the side of consumers.

It's sad, but just like with SimCity, Street Fighter x Tekken and the rest of the d-bags ruining the industry with greed practices, it's up to gamers to do something about it.

[ape007]

i love AAA games, i admire them, i buy them etc....

BUT the thing i hate is when good games don't get enough credit, crackdown for example

some people hate AAA games in a reaction of sites ignoring gems, i understand and respect that group and then there's the other group who just hate because it's such a cool thing to do, for those i say SHUT UP

[Davoh]

Nowadays there only seems to be 2 types of games that succeed, Triple-A titles and Indie games. And I believe that game developers feeling the need to pump out triple-A titles has been the cause of many becoming bankrupt this generation.

[mydyingparadiselost]

I don't hate AAA games but I hate all the DRM, the microtransactions, the push for DLC in everything, numerous franchises being shelved while ignoring strong fan support for said franchises, the yearly releases of what amounts to be the same game over and over and the pushing of already popular game series to be as mainstream as possible and thus abandoning what made these games great in the first place. AAA has ALOT of problems and until some industry practices get changed those problems are only going to get worse.

[ziggurcat]

actually it's time people stopped crying over the dumbest **** like game endings, character models, and cover art...

[Chapter11]

Endings are usually a big deal as its the payoff of the story. How is that insignificant?

[DarkZane]

I don't hate all of them, just some of them, like Call of Duty and Halo/Gears of war.

[Themba76]

only one I dont like is COD everything else is just fine but COD has been the same game for 7 years in a row now it's time for a change.

[Chapter11]

Stop hating games even if you don't like them. Right I'll keep that in mind.

[goldwyncq]

The budget of the game doesn't indicate its quality. Whether its an indie or AAA game, it doesn't say sh*t about the game. True gamers will play both and keep an open mind.