Article written by Peter Chapman.
Published on 15/03/2012 at 09:50 AM.
Right, I think this might mark the exact moment when I realised that videogame publishers have actually gone a bit mad. I mean, I know they’ve been a little odd and over-enthusiastic for a while now but this job advert from Microsoft, uncovered on GAF, is really pushing the envelope on nuttiness.
You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps!
Well, the thing is, Microsoft has decided that their next generation of first party IP games will not be “Triple A”, as we’ve become so used to hearing. Their job advert wants Executive Producers who are ready to usher in the dawn of the “AAAA” age. That’s right, strap in people, we’re going quadruple on the As.
As the GAF poster points out, this might ordinarily be seen as a typo and laughed off as something a bit silly that nobody would ever be nutty enough to introduce to their vocabulary. But the ad uses the term “AAAA” multiple times.
Let’s be clear, the “AAA” moniker has never had anything to do with the actual quality of a game, it has always referred to how prestigious the project is seen as being within a publisher’s studio. So, Call of Duty games are always triple A but then, so was Homefront. Of course, the more prestigious a game is seen as being by a publisher, the higher the development budget is allowed to creep and the more astronomical the marketing budget will be.
Having read about some of the marketing budgets for current generation triple A games, I dread to think how many big PR parties will have to be rushed together in order to spunk the budget for a quadruple A game. Perhaps they’ll even hire some proper celebs instead of the cast of TOWIE.
Source: Microsoft Careers
Additional A Achievement Achieved
Maybe the extra A is to fill a hole?
Lots of holes in gaming, but an extra A?
There’s too many of these :P
Maybe it stands for “AWWW YEAH!” but probably not if it’s about a Kinect game.
Perhaps it’s ‘A’, ‘A’, ‘A’, ‘A’… Stayin’ alive, staying’ alive.
Class. :D
I don’t know why i even bother trying to say something in these kinds of articles, because my response is usually something including the phrase, “Corporate BS”. Suffice to say articles and news like this damage my appreciation for console gaming, which sucks :l.
dont worry mate, everything in life contains the same level of BS, hell workers in Subway are called Sandwich Artists…… hope i didnt kill your appreciation for sandwiches though, that could get a guy perma-banned round here o.0
Corporate BS…
of course it’s corporate BS, gaming is big business and business people love their BS. No need to let that put you off though, just make fun of it rather than actually give it any credence. Luckily, the sort of people that invent this stupid crap are not the sort of people who make games, they’re just the ones who count the money.
Is that supposed to be representative of the sound you’ll make when you pull a muscle prancing around to their latest retarded Kinect game?
This is the most nonsensical thing I’ve read today. Four A’s? Riiiiiiight.