The Rise Of Double-A Video Games
4. AAA Has Become Stale
There's a strong argument to be made that AAA gaming has never felt more stale than it does right now, where rising costs incentivise publishers to be as risk-averse as possible when greenlighting tentpole projects.
This results in cynical slop like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and even on the higher end of the quality spectrum, much of Sony's AAA output simply feels like it's operating within a familiar, stylishly cinematic yet utterly uninventive wheelhouse.
Even most of the great games released this generation haven't felt like they've offered much innovation either in terms of gameplay or aesthetics, in turn encouraging players starved of more adventurous, out-there titles to turn towards AA and indie games.
With so many feeling "AAA fatigue" these days, it makes sense that so many AA releases are thriving - you're often ending up with a more artistically daring product for much less money.