AAA games are the blockbusters in the world of video games. They have a huge fanbase and massive marketing campaigns, and AAA studios work hard to make them top-quality. That’s why they have become the benchmark for the entire industry. Let’s take a look at some examples of AAA games of different genres, platforms, and years.
Popular examples of AAA games
To choose the most popular games, we need to check gamers’ reviews and sales data. For reviews, Opencritic is great as it shows the average score based on reviews from many sources.
Fortnite
Platform: PC, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch, mobile
Genre: survival, battle royale, sandbox, racing, rhythm
Publisher: Epic Games
Fortnite is an umbrella of games of different genres and models, all based in the same universe and all cross-platform play compatible. There are six game modes: Fortnite Battle Royale, in which many players fight each other to the last surviving; Fortnite: Save the World, where several players have to cooperate to survive the environment; Fortnite Creative, where players have freedom to create worlds and game elements; Lego Fortnite, a survival sandbox game; Rocket Racing, a racing game on the Fortnite engine, and Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game where players play and sing songs.
Most modes are free to play, and Fortnite has 221 million monthly active players. The revenue comes from game currency, V-bucks, used to buy battle passes and cosmetic items. The game has numerous character skins. As a game development company, we collaborated with Fortnite to create 120 skins of different characters (read the case study here).
Sims 4
Platform: PC, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch, mobile
Genre: simulator
Publisher: Electronic Arts
The Sims human life simulator gained fame with its first edition in the 1990s. Each new version offered new details and graphics, while the main focus remained the same: creating a family and leading its life. Regular extension packs, stuff packs, and massive amounts of downloadable content keep the fans engaged for decades. The basics of the game suggest that players don’t need to struggle for survival. Still, fan communities have developed many challenges and scripts that bring the gameplay from relaxing family management to real action games.
In 2023, The Sims 4 had more than 85 million players. It doesn’t match the scale of giant free-to-play games like Fortnite, but it’s a massive success for its genre.
Grand Theft Auto V
Platform: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
Genre: Action-adventure
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto is a well-known game series set in the city of San Andreas, in the environment of Southern California. The characters of the main story are three criminals that players can shift across. They steal cars, rob banks, and fight the police on their way to completing the missions.
Grand Theft Auto V’s fame is in its extensive open world, which was unprecedented at the time. Since then, the franchise has grown, with every new game becoming a success among AAA releases.
Hogwarts Legacy
Platform: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
The game is set in the famous wizard school, but, unlike in other games of the franchise, you don’t play the character of Harry Potter. The player creates their own character who sets out on an adventure as a five-year Hogwarts student. They learn spells, discover the castle, and fight evil powers that attack the wizard world. The open-world game offers many hidden spots and characters to interact with. As in many modern RPGs, the player’s decision affects the storyline.
Hogwarts Legacy sold 24 million copies in one year, becoming the bestseller of 2023. The reviews and sales of this game have overshadowed the previous games in the Harry Potter franchise by a wide margin.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5
Genre: RPG
Publisher: Larian Studios
Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of many games that are part of Dungeons & Dragons universe. Baldur’s Gate 3 is noted for its superior combat mechanics, storytelling, and graphics, as well as the significant amount of freedom and variations in the storyline, which makes gamers replay it numerous times.
The game has been widely discussed in the past year and has received many top prizes, including The Game Awards and Golden Joystick Awards. Although each edition of Baldur’s Gate is a true masterpiece, the developers manage to surprise players every time and keep up with the highest level.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Platform: PC, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch, mobile
Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: CD Projekt
The Witcher’s story is based on the fantasy novel series by Andrzej Sapkowski, and the game’s world is based on Slavic mythology. The main character, the Witcher, is searching for his lost adopted daughter and gets involved in numerous adventures and side quests. Players’ decisions affect the storyline, and the game has 36 different endings depending on the choices made. The game uses the newest tech advances: it has responsive, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamic environments.
In the third edition, the developers did their best to deliver top quality. Even though the production budget wasn’t very high for an AAA game (about $81 million), the level of the game is impressive. The music for the game is performed by the Brandenburg State Orchestra, and more than 500 actors were engaged in the voiceover in 15 language localizations. The game features AI environments and many other tech innovations.
The efforts paid off: The game received over 200 Game of the Year awards and will surely go down in history as one of the best AAA games.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Platform: PC, Xbox, PS, Google Stadia
Genre: Action-Adventure
Publisher: Electronic Arts
The Star Wars franchise has over 100 video games, the first of which was released in 1982. The most successful thematic game is Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, with an 81 score on Opencritic. It sold over 10 million copies in the first months after its release in November 2019.
Although such a legendary story is guaranteed to succeed, given the enormous fanbase of the Star Wars universe, game developers invest heavily in delivering a top-notch product. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order stands out with its engaging story, excellent combat mechanics, and richly detailed universe that immerses players into the Star Wars universe.
NBA 2K Series
Platforms: PC, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch, mobile
Genre: basketball simulation
Publisher: 2K Sports
The game is famous for its highly realistic sports simulation. NBA 2K Series gives players the possibility to experience different aspects of the basketball world. They can control a player, dive into strategy, or choose a character and guide him through his entire basketball star career.
A number of celebrities appeared in the NBA 2K series game. Some of them were top basketball players like LeBron James, rappers like Travis Scott, and filmmaker Spike Lee. Although the latest editions of the game received some criticism due to its aggressive monetization strategies, it is still considered one of the best sports simulators and is loved by basketball fans all over the world.
Which platforms have the best examples of AAA games?
While some AAA game publishers want to maximize the success of their successful titles by porting them to different platforms, some others choose to stay on one platform. For example, Nintendo Switch, which is both a publisher and a producer of consoles, prefers to keep its products exclusive to Nintendo consoles to boost hardware sales.
Each platform has its benefits, and here are some examples of AAA games on different platforms.
PC. Total War: Warhammer III
Publisher: SEGA
Genre: Real-time strategy, turn-based strategy
The third legendary strategy and battle game, Total War: Warhammer III, engages its players in a strategy aimed at fighting or dominating the Realm of Chaos. The game’s map is enormous and full of fantastical creatures, wizards, and legendary heroes who form armies and engage in strategic warfare.
The battle gameplay mechanics were so complex and resource-demanding that SEGA decided to make it a PC-only game. Although some games in the Total War franchise were ported to mobile and tablets, the main editions are played exclusively on PC.
Console. Super Mario Bros
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
Publisher: Nintendo
When the first Super Mario game was released in 1985, the term AAA didn’t exist. The game was very basic and surely didn’t have big production and marketing budgets associated with top games. Since then, it has had many editions and has grown into a huge franchise. Nowadays, it’s an example that not only sophisticated RPGs with complex gameplay can be called AAA.
In 2023, the most recent edition of the franchise, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, excelled in sales, selling a whopping 4.3 million copies in the first two weeks after release. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was also a huge success at the box office, becoming the absolute best-seller among animated movies. The reviews from critics confirm the high quality of the game: on Opencritic, the Top Critic Average Score for the last edition is 91.
Mobile. Call of Duty: Mobile
Publisher: Activision
Genre: First-Person Shooter (FPS), Battle Royale
Although the shooter genre is not the easiest to develop for mobile, Call of Duty creators did a great job. The game has multiplayer modes, battle royale, and seasonal content updates. According to the reviews, the mobile version is no worse than the console and PC versions.
The game was positively received by the players and had over 100 million downloads in the first month. Released in 2019, it now has many fans and gets regular updates of new maps, weapons, events, and battle passes.
Kevuru Games’ expertise in AAA video games
Working with AAA titles is a sign of quality for every game development company. We are proud to have collaborated with AAA game publishers and developers such as Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Lucasfilm, Housmarque, and others.
Kevuru Games created art for some famous games from the list above, like Fortnite and Star Wars (read the case study here). If you are a fan of these games, you might recognize these characters created by our 3D artists.
However, we don’t only work with character art. Here is the complete list of our services in AAA game development:
- Full-cycle game development
- 3D characters, skins, outfits, creatures and animals
- Environment art and props
Our artists work in different styles, and our developers have experience with various technologies used in modern game development. If you are curious about what we offer, check out our portfolio.
If you are developing a game that aspires to be among the top AAA titles and needs support, contact us. Our experienced team is open to collaboration.
Conclusion
AAA games exist in all formats and genres. Often, it’s unclear whether the game is triple-A or not if the marketing team doesn’t stress it. And this title doesn’t always mean the highest quality and popularity. Sometimes, non-AAA games gain more success than top-budget ones. An example of this can be Minecraft or Among Us.However, some games with moderate budgets that become widely popular get bigger investments for sequels, and those are clearly AAA titles. In fact, many triple-A titles of recent years have been sequels to blockbuster game series. To see some examples of the recent top releases, read our article about the best AAA games 2023/2024.
