There’s AA, there’s AAA, and then there’s AAAA – a term increasingly used by Microsoft to describe its next-gen projects. The Initiative, which was specifically set up to make “AAAA next-gen experiences” has already nabbed a number of high-profile industry veterans but so far there’s little clarity on what this terms means beyond a massive budget.
Now, Ubisoft appears to be jumping on the bandwagon after Twitter user @bogorad222 (via Wccftech) spotted a number of its developers’ LinkedIn profiles, referring to games like Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Skull & Bones as AAAA projects. What’s more is that the studio also apparently has unannounced AAAA games in the works. We checked these profiles ourselves and can confirm that, at the time of this writing, these references do exist.
According to Ubisoft Paris Senior Art Technical Director, Cyril Masquilliere, Beyond Good & Evil 2 is an “open universe AAAA” game. Ubisoft Singapore’s Senior Producer, François Logeais, claims that Skull & Bones (which has reportedly been rebooted) is “AAAA game-as-a-service and new strategic IP for Ubisoft.”
As for the unannounced projects, Ubisoft Berlin’s Yoni Dayan is working on “unannounced quadruple A” game, according to his LinkedIn profile. Finally, Ubisoft Bordeaux’s Fabian Saloman wrote on his profile that the studio is hiring for AAAA projects. Interestingly, Saloman’s profile now says AAA instead of AAAA but a quick Google search proves that this change was made recently, and that it originally said, “if you want to work on a Ubisoft AAAA game, Bordeaux Studio is made for you!”
It’s unclear why Saloman updated his profile.
What do our readers think?
[Source: @bogorad222 via Wccftech]
