Video game production is an expensive endeavor for publishing studios. Budgets typically exceed $100 million per game, especially when it comes to AAA games.
So what is a AAA video game? Good examples include popular franchises such as Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and Cyberpunk 2077. Each of these games offers players a deep and immersive experience that requires hundreds of hours to complete missions and quests to fully satisfy the story.
Casual gaming has created many obstacles for AAA games and franchises. The need to satisfy the needs of a gamer who only wants to spend a short amount of time playing a particular video game means that studios must condense the gameplay experience and de-emphasize high-quality graphics and cutscenes.
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AAA games they are now saddled with huge budgets and intensive development to generate revenue upon release. As casual games become mainstream, gamers aren't buying some of these AAA games at the same rate that we've seen over the past two decades.
Reasons include greater time investment and lack of creativity compared to games released by independent developers. Indie games also tend to be more affordable, something that AAA developers can't easily accommodate due to their multi-year projects that can cost upwards of nine figures to produce.
We're already seeing AAA games include other features aimed at casual gamers. An example of this is mini-games, which began appearing more frequently in gameplay than previous AAA releases.
One of the main factors is to avoid player fatigue. By engaging in a less intense and shorter activity that is separated from the game's main plot or storyline, gamers can enjoy a side quest or mini-game to complete a task in a much faster period of time.
This low-stakes environment helps the AAA game offer something more than a boring, repetitive storyline filled with the same actions. Mini-games don't necessarily sacrifice quality, but allow gamers to interact with others through online communities or move on to more unique challenges or challenges.
Indie developers can produce games that are cheaper to buy. While saving money is an important factor for some gamers, others gravitate towards indie games to play in a comparatively more unique and less difficult to navigate environment.
It took Grand Theft Auto over a decade to release its upcoming game after the massive success of Grand Theft Auto V. Rockstar Games has pushed the release of Grand Theft Auto VI to November 2026, which continues to prolong the absurd wait that fans of the franchise have endured.
In 2025, the popularity of casual games has skyrocketed. It doesn't look like it's going away any time soon, based on a variety of factors such as time commitment, oversupply, and price.
