A CD Projekt Red executive has slyly poked fun at fellow publisher Ubisoft and its failed attempt to label Skull and Bones as a "AAAA" game.
AAA is usually a label given to blockbuster games by big-money companies to signify that, yes, these games were expensive to make. The label is normally meaningless. At best, it gives us a sense of a game's budget. At worst, it's marketing jargon used to convince potential customers that high production values make a game good.
Ubisoft attempted to pull a similar stunt when releasing its multiplayer pirate ship romp Skull and Bones earlier this year. CEO Yves Guillemot previously called the endlessly delayed game a "AAAA" release to justify its $70 price tag - an argument that beta players strongly disagreed with.
The topic of ever-increasing As also came up in a recent financial Q&A chat with CD Projekt Red's investor relations VP Karolina Gnaś. One question jokingly asked whether the Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 studio would reassess its AAA-only stance amid Ubisoft's comments. "Ours will be AAAAA," Gnaś responded.
Video game budgets have become unsustainable, and thus, the AAA Arms Race has officially begun. Skull and Bones marked the first AAAA game in history. CD Projekt Red dares to unleash the world's first AAAAA game with The Witcher 4 and a Cyberpunk sequel. Who will pick up the mantle, write the check, and dare to develop an AAAAAA game first?
In more serious news, the publisher also shared that The Witcher 4 will introduce "gameplay elements and new mechanics" not seen in the original trilogy. We don't have too much more information about the upcoming RPG yet - even its name is unconfirmed - though CDPR won't be replacing developers with AI to make the sequel.
Our Skull and Bones review said it was “too much of a grind for too little reward.”
