Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Assassin’s Creed Shadows are AAAA games pic.twitter.com/cUkvSuip1Y
While the quadruple-A references have been scrubbed from her current bio, the original wording suggests that “AAAA” is more than just a slip of the tongue; it’s likely part of Ubisoft’s internal vocabulary. The company has repeatedly attempted to push this evolution of game classification, despite widespread eye-rolling from the gaming community.
This trend brings to mind the Skull and Bones controversy, where Ubisoft labeled its delayed pirate MMO a “AAAA” experience, only for players to criticize it for failing to meet those heightened expectations. Ubisoft isn’t the only one chasing this vanity metric; Microsoft’s The Initiative was originally pitched as a “AAAA studio” tasked with reviving the Perfect Dark franchise.
It’s a term that often feels cursed. Perhaps it’s time for the industry to stop trying to make “quadruple-A” happen—it’s clearly not landing with the audience.
Looking ahead, the dual protagonists of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Yasuke and Naoe, may redefine movement for the franchise, with developers noting that their distinct backgrounds will influence their physical presence in the world.
