I don’t think it’s presumptive to say that dou🅘ble-A games are back in vogue. This hasn’t been a sudden change, by any means – over the last few years, we’ve seen games at a lower price point and without the typical triple-A fixtures perf🐷orming incredibly well.

There Have Been So Many Double-A Hits This Decade

Split Fiction screenshot of Mio looking at Zoe.

($50 on Epic Games Store aꦯnd $60 on consoles) was a strong GOTY contender and . ’s last game before it, , sold 4.5 million copies in five years at a $60 price point, though Control Ultimate Edition launched🌌 on Steam at $40. , likewise, launched at $60 and was successful enough to warrant its upcoming Overture DLC.

On the lower price end, we’ve seen games like , which, des💃pite having a sizeable chunk of its 2 million players come from Game Pas𝓡s, . The developers are now considering a sequel. , the wildly popular live-service from (and so far the only of the conglomerate’s slate of multiplayer games to really take off), was a pleasing $40 with surprisingly light monetisation on top of that.

, at $50, was a smash hit, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:almost immediatelꦓy clinching itself a movie deal. And, of course𝐆, is making huge waves at $50 – to my great surprise, I’ve even had friends who exclusively play Warzone ask me about it. It’s broken containment, and I’m thrilled.

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Triple-A Gets Pricier, And Double-A Takes The Crown

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 team fronted by Lune.

I’d be remiss to omit that this is all happening as triple-A games rise and rise in price. , one of the first games for the new , will be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a painful $80 at launch. has announced that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:its cᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚo🔥nsoles will be increasing in price, years after they were first launched, and games will be set at $80 from the upcoming holiday season onwards. is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:likely to follow suit. might 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:end up costing $80, and rumours abound that will be the first game to cost $100, though 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:that’s still up in the air.

As games get more and more expensive, largely as a result of budgets spiralling out of control as studios try to achieve higher graphical fidelity and bigger worlds, players are gravitating towards smaller, shorter, less expensive games. I understand why prices are going up – I’ve even argued that perhaps prices should go up to accommodate, thওough I’d much prefer if CEOs stopped taking huge bonuses.

But perhaps there’s a better way. Studios known for huge triple-A, open-world affairs are likely to stick to those games, but not every developer can make a game like that, nor should they. There are only so many 100 hour games someone can play🅺 in a year before they get burn꧂t out, and soon, there’ll only be so many the average person can afford to buy before it starts to eat into grocery money.

Double-As are going to fill the gap. They’re shorter, often more experimental (to great effect: see Clair Obscur), and are far easier to recoup development costs for. They appeal more to players who aren’t willing to shell out full price for a triple-A on day one, too🎐. Everybody’s been saying that the double-A game has been killed by triple-A, but as these games get more expensive, they make way for smaller games to take their place. This decade might end up being the decade of the $50 game.

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Your Rating

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Turn-Based RPG
Fantasy
Systems
Top Critic Avg: 92/100 Critics Rec: 97%
Released
April 24, 2025
ESRB
🍷 Mature 17+ // Blood🐬 and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Developer(s)
🤡 Sandfall Interactive
Publisher(s)
𒅌 Kepler Interactive
Engine
Unreal Engine 5

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SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL