AAA

SuspectGreedy1980

If you’re looking for a few extra percent without the long‑term swing of something like TLT, consider floating‑rate funds like USFR or TFLO – they stay in the ETF shape, give 1–2% better than SGOV, and move with rates, so they’re pretty cash‑equivalent. For a low‑duration corporate bite, VCSH offers another 2–3% boost over SGOV with only a moderate credit risk. And if you’re willing to trade a tiny bit more credit exposure for headline‑level safety, PAAA or JAAA (AAA‑tranche CLOs) add roughly 4–5% on top of SGOV while still keeping the ETF convenience. Just remember: longer duration or higher credit risk = higher price volatility – decide what that trade‑off is worth for your float.

Neel_Crashkari

5'4" and hung like a AAA battery

Brave_Yesterday_6106

I have a great idea.  Let's privatize the student loan market, pool the high-risk debt into Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), and market the derivatives as AAA-rated assets.

Fit_Example2589

you might want to look at USFR or VGUS if you’re after a slightly higher yield but still in the ≤0.5‑year bucket. both are ultrashort T‑bill ETFs, 0.1–0.4y, and they pay state‑tax‑exempt dividends. for a bit more yield you can dip into a short‑term corporate ETF like VCSH (2‑3y $R‑card) or a AAA‑CLO such as JAAA – just remember that adds credit risk. if you’re holding a retirement account or need the very safety of SGOV, stick with it; otherwise those alternatives give you a meaningful bump in a low‑risk envelope.

Rwandrall4

What makes a game AAA has almost nothing to do with the quality of the coding.

CarrierAreArrived

dude, stop using free ChatGPT and get a paid plan (either Claude/GPT/Gemini) if you think it's just good at writing "macros". They are literally coding nearly AAA game quality now.

WiseGuyCS

If you spend 3 years making something that someone just prompted AI to make, then you probably should have just prompted AI to make it in the first place. In regards to a game or something with a creative aspect, your characters and art are protected under copywright, but the fundamental gameplay can obviously be replicated, that already happens and has been happening for many years. People take game concepts and change the art and ship it as a new product all the time, even AAA studios have done it forever.

Provolone-Jones

2007: “ignore the record defaults and foreclosures; these mortgage backed securities are AAA rated.” 2026: “ignore the exploding ships and exploding oil infrastructure; oil is flowing like never before.”

Rookie-God

This is where we take a bunch of safe eggs, damaged eggs and broken eggs that haven't sold, and we put them in a basket. And when the basket gets full enough, the whole thing is suddenly considered diversified. And then the whores at the rating agency give it a 92, 93% AAA rating, no questions asked.

Independent-Tree-985

unwatchable! AAA will always cater to the most basic of instincts, and I guess we should embrace the fragmentation of hollywood because it means that niche shows and movies can be made

-_-0_0-_0

Well they those were AAA rated. Unless you looked underneath, most ppl trusted them and didn't know the shenanigans going on behind the scenes.

txholdem

Talk about inflation: AAA battery price is 10 times higher in Kroger, compared to Dollar Tree. So, where does the inflation come from?

GAV17

Unless banks are holding junk AI debt thinking it has the same credit quality as AAA bonds or treasuries I don't see how this could be a repeat of 08.

SanDisk_Made_Me_Rich

I was about to pick up my +$40 dinner, but I had a flat tire. So I drove back home on a flat tire and scheduled AAA to come tomorrow morning to put on a spare and then I'll probably be fleeced at the tire shop.

AlternativeSignal908

"a lot less cyclical" -- When in the history of cyclical industries has a cyclical company ever become non-cyclical? And maintained extraordinary margins? When has anything in tech ever transformed to defensive? (Recall Micron's five quarters of consecutive losses around 2023.) "nearly impossible outcome at this point" -- AAA-rated CDOs in the house! "take or pay contracts" -- Customer concentration would like to have a word with you, as would some of the same end customers who are deeply negative cash flow, as would a reliable and profitable monetization model that doesn't exist. I'm all for AI. But as they say with commodities, you aren't getting a deal at the peak when the multiples are low.

rckytopdc

You’ve been reading it for a long time, because it’s been true for a long time. The fundamentals have been upside down for quite a while. Stocks are more overvalued that before the dot com bubble. A big difference is that AI provides much more value than a random website that was useless. There is a lot a value yet to be realized from AI, so theoretically the market could absorb this for a while. What is unique right now is the US debt. Our debt is 125% of our GDP, third highest in the world. Japan has the highest, but theirs is almost entirely held inside the country in the Yen, so it’s more sustainable. Those around us, like Italy, France, UK, etc. are facing serious issues right now. Yet here we stand with our thumbs not ass. We’ve been downgraded once already, so we are now AA debt, not AAA. We were downgraded partly because nobody here will do anything about the debt crisis. And it is a crisis. Our spending, and lack of revenue (taxes), is so out of hand that we are already borrowing just to pay the interest on our debt. Interest payments are nearly 20% of our budget - more than our defense spending. On top of this, there is pressure on the dollar like we’ve never seen. I don’t mean inflation, which is pretty good. 20 years ago we were the unquestioned world currency. While still true, the world has been pushing for a second currency for a while and the dollar stranglehold is starting to show some cracks. Plus, we aren’t viewed like we aren’t viewed like we used to be. We are not good partners for anyone anymore, including our closest allies. So yeah, you’ve been hearing this for a while, because it’s been true for a while. Ignore at your own risk.

exphx23

50% Treasuries and AAA corp bonds and 50% dividend growth fund. The next decade does not look as promising as the past.

Taggart3629

We're trying for a sturdy and fairly large "bond tent" during the early years of retirement, which will actually be a combination of a MYGA, a TIPS ladder, SGOV, and AAA CLO, with some dividend income. It may be as large as 40% or 50% depending on what the market conditions look like in a year or three, when we're ready to pull the trigger. Our CFP's guidance is to gradually pare down the bond allocation the further we get into retirement because the sequence of returns risk are highest early in retirement. This article was really interesting because [it uses S&P 500 data over a 20-year period](https://www.agwealthm.com/post/understanding-sequence-of-return-risk-the-hidden-threat-to-retirement-and-early-retirement) (2000 to 2020) run forward when the market was tanking to the current long bull market, and run backwards to show what the 4% rule would do to a portfolio if the market downturn happens early in retirement versus late in retirement.

Separate_Newt7313

My fear is that the funny money numbers being thrown around in AI will be transferred to the stockholders who excitingly buy up shares, only to find that they are as empty and worthless as the AAA real estate securities being sold in the late 2000s. Consequently, my guess is that the stock market will rise into peak frothiness before a dramatic, resounding pop!, ushering in a very depressed US economy. I hope I'm wrong.

SnS2500

SGOV is a short term treasury \_bill\_ ETF. As such it works as cash with basically no risk. Bond ETFs have large risk. TLT for example is down -13% in price for the past year, so about negative -8.5% for the year. APLU is also a net loser for the year, but not as horrible as TLT. Bad time for bond ETFs. Stick with SGOV or one of the other t-bill ETFs... or possibly a AAA CLO etf like JAAA or PAAA.

Chrizzle87

Banking crisis 2008 happened mainly due to mortgages given to Wendy’s dumpsters workers, then packaged and receiving AAA ratings. High yields may contributed to popping this bubble, but wasn’t the cause of the crisis. Now, the circular AI “financing” certainly is risky, but the difference is, everyone has an eye on it. Everyone sees it. And CDS are rising. They don’t hide behind triple A ratings.

kairepaire

AAA is highest. AAA+ does not exist

bearhunter429

#Imagine living in a shithole country without AAA+ credit rating LMAO🤌

Maesthro_ger

Datacenter joint ventures debt disguised as AAA, wrapped up and bought by banks. Someone will default and people will say it's no big deal and a isolated problem, but it will be GFC all over again or at least compress all multiples to return to the mean.

ShadowLiberal

Agreed. IMO I think nobody sane thinks that the US government deserves a AAA credit rating anymore.

Still7Superbaby7

My MIL has bought bonds since the 1980’s. My husband grew up with a bond portfolio. I think we still have a dozen bonds or so. They only buy AAA rated municipal bonds.

NerdsOfSteel74

Don’t worry, you’re AAA.

bearhunter429

#S&P bond ratings: Canada = AAA, America = AA+ #Canada wins LMAO🤌🇨🇦

bearhunter429

#Imagine living in a shitty ass third world country without a AAA+ bond rating LMAO🤌

SpotBrief9529

Well as a 62 year old this guy and I went through 2008 , same people say everything was great AAA lol stay the course , it’s like they lit our money on fire 🔥 

Specific-Quail-3697

OoooOoooooh my GAAAAHD AaaaAAAÀAAAÀAAAÀÀAÄĀÆHHHHHJ

elpresidentedeljunta

Let´s compare that to a total market of ... what? $150 billion give or take? I don´t see anything wrong with that. "AAA rated" stamp

TreGet234

CCC Spreads: The Slow, 17-Month BleedCCC spreads were the ultimate "canary in the coal mine." They started cracking in the summer of 2007, specifically around July/August when French bank BNP Paribas halted withdrawals on subprime funds and the Quant hedge fund meltdown occurred.The Timeline: From a historical low of around 5.0% (500 bps) in early 2007, CCC spreads began widening continuously throughout 2007 and early 2008 as the market realized that lower-tier corporate balance sheets faced immense rollover risk and tightening credit conditions.The Final Crack: When Lehman Brothers failed in September 2008, CCC spreads were already highly stressed (sitting near 16%). Post-Lehman, they completely blew out, taking roughly 17 months in total from their initial 2007 structural shift to reach their absolute peak of over 44% in December 2008.2. AAA Spreads: The Sudden, 3-Month Liquidation PanicIn sharp contrast, AAA corporate bonds showed incredible resilience for the majority of the early crisis. Because investors viewed them as bulletproof, they benefited from a "flight-to-quality" through late 2007 and the first half of 2008.The Timeline: Historically, AAA corporate spreads averaged less than 1.0% (100 bps) over Treasuries. Even as Bear Stearns collapsed in March 2008, AAA spreads only widened marginally.The Sudden Crack: AAA spreads didn't truly crack until September 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The failure of Lehman triggered a systemic run on money market funds and a historic unwinding of leveraged structures (like SIVs).The Result: Because institutions desperately needed cash, they were forced to liquidate their most liquid, highest-quality assets—their AAA bonds. It took a mere 3 months (from September to December 2008) for AAA spreads to skyrocket from normal levels to an unprecedented historic peak of 2.0% to 2.5% (200–250 bps).

selfemployedsince16

I don’t think bonds are safe. I think we have to destroy the dollar to stay globally competitive as exporter number 1 and 2. I do think productive land is good but in the age of abundance no one will have to rent. That means I don’t want to be a landlord. Pair that with demographic projections and real estate is a horrible choice. AAA real estate is always a good deal no matter the price almost.

selfemployedsince16

I think about tier one assets all the time. Essentially what do people who have net worths of 5 million or more purchase. Well it usually boils down to unreplacable places and things. The Rothschilds own so many cool historical artifacts that frankly are priceless (where the term comes from). Below Abraham’s top hat and the first bible known and everything such as is real estate. If not land and grade AAA property it’s put in vehicles to acquire more of those things. Beyond their growth use of their wealth they then in a third option grow defensive of where they are in the world and how they compare to central banks. That’s where gold comes in. (Also raw materials in general) I think in an age of abundance prices will approach 0 for everything except the above. I do think the ways to grow wealth with wealth will burn up. Stocks are mainly used to convince people they will have more abundance in the future. Where we are going the average Joe and therefore investment banks will not enjoy trying to buy a thing and sell it for more to a greater fool. The average person won’t have purchasing power given to them in the name of owning more stocks and gold. The average person will have it for housing food and healthcare. Money to build money is dumb in abundance I guess is my point. I’m not even sure gold will hold its value I just think it is the safest relative bet.

Ubyssey308

Treasonous mocking of Dear Leader not accept! Death by AAA cannon!

trent_upscale

5'4" and hung like a AAA battery

mfwl

You don't think an agent loop is capable of inspecting traces and core dumps and fine tuning performance? Not to mention the fact that LLMs are already helping tune GPU kernels and associated software stacks, and those performance optimizations are far more valuable than a AAA's will ever be.

lefty200

the entire AAA game market is only $72 billion, plus there is more to a game than assets. Also, I heard that Astra is better than Opus 5, but not better than Fable at coding.

mfwl

Have you seen Astra's ability to create 3d assets? All of Hollywood is going to be replaced. All AAA game studio money is going to AI.

RubiksSugarCube

AAA national gas average up to $4.46. We gonna break the ATH of $5.02 in 2022?

YourChildhood5762

Is that AAA league? I'm fairly certain that the Yankees are the only team in the Northeast.

Prize-Pension856

Skyrim made 1.5 billion and Microslop bought Bethesda for 7.5 billion. That is after expenses. It is not prohibitively expensive to produce AAA games, even before ai assistance. It is prohibitively expensive to produce bad AAA games because you cut 90% of the developers for ai. (See ubisoft) Paying developers is not prohibitively expensive, it just lowers profit margins.

TofuMeltatSunspot

No way. I'm sick of waiting decades for GTA and Elder Scrolls games. It is prohibitively expensive to make a AAA game so these companies cant take risks and serve us live service slop. I believe AI will have a positive impact on gaming.

Valkorion335786

35 years old and a 25 year member with AAA

Classic-Resist-3517

Let him first try to get AAA rating back on the menu.

Green_Beans_Tasty

Ignoring all the noise, the question is and always has been how to manage SORR. As long as your investment horizon is still >10 years, you don’t have to worry. It’s just numbers on a screen in that scenario and you will most likely come out on top. If you’re at a point where money may have to be accessed within the next 10 years, you gotta start managing short and medium term volatility. How? Best I know by way of having cash/cash equivalents for a few years. Bond tent. Money market. Whatever. Something that won’t take a 20, 30 or 40% hit in a crash and potentially need a decade to put you back in the green. I see all your points but I’m 40, you are 49 so not the same but pretty comparable still. I am 100% equities except for a fully paid house and a year’s worth of expenses in sgov as emergency fund. Once I’m getting closer to pulling the plug on work (or decide that I don’t want to anymore) I’ll bump the fixed income portion up over time to end up with 3-5 years of expenses in that bucket. Trying to time the market, rotating between sectors, regions or whatever is just noise. Ultimately premium returns (>AAA bonds) come with increased risk (lol, pretty obvious I guess). The only real way to manage/flatten this risk is diversification and time. You got heavy premium returns the last 20 years. If you want to take money off the table to “secure” them that’s fine, though you may be missing out on more of the same. Or not. Maybe add some VXUS to diversify. Probably not going to make a difference in 10 years anyway. As for end of the world risk and hyperinflation, stocks and any type of property (well, and debt) are your best hedges here but ultimately that’s just general risk of life I guess.

steph31199

You don’t understand how accounting works then. Accounting write downs are not just fancy work with numbers. It means the company really screwed up and overvalued and overpaid for the asset. Their entire business strategy reminds me of a scene from the movie the big short when they explain how they just took a bunch dog shit mortgages, BBBs, but packaging them together, they were AAA.

AggravatingCrow897

As of **September 17, 2026**, the U.S. national average for highway diesel is approximately **$6.40 per gallon**, according to [AAA’s national fuel tracker](https://gasprices.aaa.com/)⁠. Today: **$6.396** Yesterday: **$6.310** One week ago: **$5.977** One month ago: **$5.445** One year ago: **$3.708** Calls.

Olliebear1977

Canada credit rating AAA USA credit rating AA+

silicon_replacement

There will be no problem if they are rated junk. Big difference with 08, junk are rated as AAA NVDA backing and the big 6 investment banker are trying to make those less junkie

GreatDiscernment

Demonstration of AAA credit in action.

GreatDiscernment

Trump was a fool to take on a G7 country with AAA credit rating (better than US). It’s also how Canada can set up hundreds of millions of dollars in credit for Ukraine with a phone call.

evey_17

Try searching it by states? look for states that maintain **AAA credit ratings** across all major rating agencies (S&P, Moody's, and Fitch). These states boast disciplined financial management, massive "rainy day" reserves, and strong economic growth: * **Virginia:** Holds the longest-running AAA credit rating of any state, backed by constitutional requirements for balanced budgets. * **North Carolina:** Known for highly conservative fiscal management and economic growth that keeps its bond ratings flawless. * **Florida:** Consistently maintains AAA ratings due to powerful population growth, a low state debt burden, and robust financial reserves. * **Other Tier-1 Safety States:** States like Georgia, Washington, and Utah also frequently hit the top of credit rating ladders

Sensitive-Exam649

The real spark that started 2008 was not the home market. It was the cost of gas. from about 2005 gas prices were rising every year. in 2007 it got to the point were some people had a choice pay the mortgage or by gas to get to work. in 2007 many many faced with gas or mortgage decided to buy gas. and home loan default rate started to climb. in 2008 the many started to learn that there mortgage backed bonds which had a AAA rating were saccutally worthless. And since many of these bonds were sold to banks many banks started failing. With the worthless bonds 2008 would have been a minor event with mortgage companies taking then biggest hit. But the with banks failing FDIC insurance was under stress and the government t had to get involve to secure savings people had in the banks. 25 banks failed that year and that doesn't include foreign banks that slso failed. Although the mortgage problems were a factor the major cause was improperly rated mortgage bonds and and many banks that had invested in them. Aproximately 25 sompaneis were engird infrared regedit the mortgage backed bonds that become worthless.

Nomromz

The situation today has nothing to do with the 2008 financial crisis. The 2008 financial crisis happened because of the abundance of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) being given to people without any income or job verification. People didn't fully understand that their monthly payments would go up (or assumed they could simply sell for a profit before their monthly payments went up). People paid these mortgages on time for a few years and then these loans were packaged and were rated AAA (highest grade). Somehow, no one looked into the fact that large swathes of these loans might no longer have on time payments once the monthly payments skyrocketed. Since these loans were rated AAA and were deemed "safe," many large investment bodies including pensions invested in them. When the crash happened, there were massive waves throughout the entire economy. And they happened because no one could actually afford to pay for the mortgages once the rates went up and people who were unqualified were getting loans. Today, every single buyer with a mortgage goes through a financial colonoscopy before they get approved for a loan. Every line item on their bank statement gets looked at. There's job verification a day or two before closing. The high housing prices are not inflated by unqualified buyers bidding on houses they cannot afford. On the contrary, these buyers are all highly qualified. The biggest difference in what is happening today is that the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" is getting wider. In 2008, it seemed to possibly be shrinking since so many more people could buy homes, but it was fake. Tldr: today is absolutely nothing like 2008.

Slow-Code-661

So I generally agree but here is the thing: Hollywood has priced out a huge amount of projects. If you ever asked yourself why we are not seeing "small" movies anymore like we did 20 years ago, it's because the cost of making them is too high and the financial risk too big. On top of that, I don't think AI will meaningfully replace creative writing and directing anytime soon. AI models work at their best when you give them very specific instructions. It's a learned skill just like learning how to navigate editing software or directing a camera. But what will happen is that as the price of making any given project goes down we will likely see an explosion of independent teams creating all kinds of interesting projects that would never have received funding otherwise. It will be like indie game developers on steam cranking out a game with 5 people and it happens to be more fun than the AAA slop that some major studio pumped out with 1000 developers.

College_finals

"AAA’s national average for diesel reached $5.9 a gallon on Monday, the highest in its records" "$108.02. This is the price the diesel crack spread (price difference between a barrel of crude oil and the diesel refined from it) reached on Sept. 2, reflecting a global shortage of diesel."

BladeFireQ

USA is about to be renamed to AAA, America of America of the Americans 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

kenyonorama

I have a Sandisk MP3 player from… 2005 maybe? I can’t change the songs on it so anytime I can be bothered to find a AAA battery I get this nostalgic music bomb

Liquid_Sarcasm

Ahh I see your point, but the downgrade would be based upon the ability to repay its debts, not the value of the dollars exchange rate to other currencies. It’s an important distinction. Credit ratings are about credit worthiness, the ability to repay the debt, not its relative value of exchange. The fear of devaluation if the dollar would cause investors to demand a higher yield for the debt. All debt is calculated as the risk free rate plus risk premium(what investors demand for the chance of taking any risk). In other words the risk premium is the increased yield. In this case it is funky because the US used to be AAA, thus it was the risk free rate. The rising yields we are seeing is the added risk premium.

berniebueller

Why doesn’t nvidia just sell it to the open market for $30? Because there is no market that will pay that price. This scheme is exactly what was happening before the GFC, new houses being handed to people who couldn’t afford the repayments and 1000’s of house mortgages bundled up as AAA rated investments and sold to ordinary workers superfunds. I’m sure this isn’t not the worst verging on fraudulent stuff going on within Wall Street right now, the world is full of stuff like this atm.

-mini-kuma

TTWO is a one-trick pony. GTA6 has to sell astronomical numbers for the next 5 years to get valuation of TTWO. All while the competition from China for AAA games is exploding and Japanese games resurgence. Good luck though. Only have a few shares I plan to cash out once the game is released.

hotforlowe

Controversially, not calls or puts, but rather FRN and AAA CLO income…

RuleSafe6767

"What is the next tranche of leaps we need to sell for our collared fund?" *2028 11, Sir.* "The build out is just getting started, and we don't expect to see demand matching supply until mid 2028" Wash, rince, repeat. Remember when in 2023 they were talking about 2024 being the year that Hollywood releases a AAA feature-length AI-gen movie (scaring actors to license the likeness)? They also predicted 2024 would be the year that AI-gen music tops the music charts. https://time.com/6322664/state-of-ai-2023/

CollegeSorry5923

AAA American asperges association

YourChildhood5762

I don't give a crap what the AAA says, gas is way under $5, close to last year's average and fifty cents over what it was when Biden was in office. If you're paying more, it's probably because your city government is lining their pockets.

DerpBaggage

AAA states national average at 4.09, a year ago average was 3.21.

Basic-Initiative-298

They work very hard at AAA studios. It’s the nepotism and cronyism at the executive level rotting the industry.

Adrian12094

good, fuck AAA companies

iamjt

Bruh they are chucked full for 3 years and any pop will only happen when one of their collateralized gpu obligations start to fuck up. Even then they will start to mix these failing tranches into their mag 7 tranches to make them look AAA

Travolta1984

My bear case is, how many of these players will be simply migrating from GTA 5 to 6, and how many will be new players? There's been reports that the younger generations don't care too much about AAA gaming, and with GTA6 releasing on a smaller install base when compared to GTA5, it remains to be seen if there will be indeed a huge bump to their revenue stream. Plus Take Two has been bleeding money since they acquired Zynga in 2022.

shinobi6siege

Same for most people; the paycheck has on average has not kept up with inflation. You used to be able to buy games for $20. Games that weren't just a lease, that didn't need an online connection to download, that didn't need a day one patch. Especially with digital only releases the games should be cheaper. And if they made a good game, they don't need to raise prices; indie games like Hollow Knigh, Terraria, Stardew Valley, etc. sold very well and prove you don't need this massive team to deliver a great game. Constantly these AAA studios keep it safe while having a massive team that take years and years to make one subpar game, while being confused why it didn't sell well. Indie games prove that adding suits often detracts from the experience and ultimately how much money a game will make. $60 is still a lot to spend on a game, again wages have not increased 1:1 with inflation

Tuomas90

"Potential revenue." That's like me saying:"I could get a AAA++ on that test next week I haven't studied for! Or not..."

Upper-Difficulty660

# What is winter-blend vs. summer-blend gasoline? Winter-blend gas has a higher Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP), which is a measure of fuel evaporation at a given temperature. This higher RVP is mostly due to a higher percentage of butane in the winter-blend fuel mixture. Butane—which you may also know as lighter fluid—has high volatility and vaporizes at lower temperatures, a helpful combination when you start your car’s engine on a cold winter morning. Other additives in the winter-blend formulation are there to prevent fuel line freezing and improve engine performance when temperatures drop extremely low. from AAA this is another source

iamjt

In 2025 and 2026, the market saw explosive growth in GPU-Collateralized Asset-Backed Securities (ABS). Neoclouds and hyperscalers package their H100/B200 clusters into bankruptcy-remote Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), bundle the rental yield from AI labs, get an investment-grade rating (often A or AAA due to early over-collateralization and tier-1 tenant off-take agreements), and sell them to pension funds. Michael can you do your thing and ask Goldman to create swaps for us to buy

InvestingMonkeys

A Genesis/Mega Drive game often sold at up to $70. In fact, found this: >In the 1990s, a standard new video game typically cost between $40 and $70 USD, depending on the platform and storage medium. While these prices seem comparable to modern titles, when adjusted for inflation, a $60 game in 1995 would cost over $115 today, revealing that retro gaming was significantly more expensive for the average consumer than current AAA releases. Game development costs have gone up since those days and prices have stayed pretty much the same and have ongoing development costs post launch unlike back then which when you bought it, that's all you got.

Slimsuper

Gamers can be a nightmare but as a collective are generally right about the way the industry has gone. The AAA industry for example is plagued with out of touch CEOs and upper management that just chase dollar bills over quality, its become more about milking the consumer than being passionate about making a good game. Its like the industry has lost its soul over the years. Not to say there are still some gems out there but there’s a lot of crap to wade through.

kkyonko

That is exactly why I said I don't invest in gaming. It's a hobby that gives me joy, I don't want it to get worse because of shareholders expecting every game to sell a ton of copies. It's a big reason AAA games have generally become stagnant, most companies don't want to take actual interesting risks.

Valnar

>One of the larger narratives in gaming is that development costs are constantly ballooning and Gamers throw a giant hissy fit anytime companies try to do anything that would slightly increase their margins. The problem is that these AAA games are getting too expensive. Trying to increase the margin on those super expensive games just means that the quality of the game is going down. There's also like just huge diminishing returns on the expensive games being good as games. When you have something like Expedition 33 that both looks good and plays amazingly, or something like Mecha Chamelon which is just an engaging game, why should a gamer care that much about some game that is more expensive and trying to nickel and dime?

kkyonko

AAA games are now $70-$80 not including DLC and MTX. I know this is a stocks sub but consumers are not the ones to blame, it's the never ending growth shareholders expect.

yosrush

I own a little Nintendo and a moderate amount of Ubisoft. Used to also hold Activision before the merger. Some Microsoft/Amazon/Google, but wouldn't categorise them as gaming companies. The depression in gaming stock is multifactorial. Higher budgets and development costs means if a AAA flops, it hurts a lot more. There is higher competition from older games and indie games, because of backwards compatibility and a broader marketplace/ecosystem. And similar to the struggles of legacy media (TV/Film/Cinema), there's also more competition for your time from social media. How much more time do you spend on Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Discord, Twitch, when you would have been gaming instead as a kid? Streaming service like Netflix and Disney+ suffer the same fate. Then there's risk of AI disrupting the entire industry. All the talented developers, designers, animators, motion/voice actors, writers, etc losing their jobs because a kid can vibe code their own cloud streaming version of Breath of the Wild. Saying all that, I own them because of the IP, and happy with the price I paid. AI can't create IP with a 30-40 year history that can be adapted to different forms of media and consumption. Gaming is more mentally satisfying than doomscrolling social media, and I don't think it's an industry that's going to disappear any time soon.

SerpentRoyalty

I don't and haven't done much research on it either. Independent gaming companies are always struggling and most AAA companies ran out of money and sold. So it just always looked like bad business.

vik556

Banks?? They are holding AAA piece. I’m not worried for them

Various_Couple_764

I own MLP (master limited partnership) fund it invest in midstream oil and gas companies that operate pipelines and refineries. Ihave EMO 8..% yield. BDC (Business development corporations) I have PBDC 9% yield. for utilities and infrastructure UTF 7%and UTG 6.2%. these funds are 20 years old and have never cut t or reduced there dividend. CLO (colateral Loan obligations) Very low risk loan obligations JAAA 5.5% yeidl AAA rated CLOs. CLOZ 8% yeidl BBB CLOs.

CyberClawX

Meta is in the forefront of VR, bought out Oculus VR - with one of the OG God-like Developers of old, John Carmack. The tech is just too niche and expensive to go anywhere anytime soon, and they never swayed any AAA developer to make a decent system seller. Apple, Sony, even Valve, they all have like 1 or 2 headset experiences, they barely suport. Meta is the only that is still investing in the tech.

par-double

Somewhat rhetorical, but what happens to Coreweave’s ability to raise capital if their AAA partners get downgraded? What if operating costs inflate on multiple fronts? What if a fall weather event delays construction across multiple projects?

Hypewillims23

To be honest, GTA 6 is still immensely anticipated no matter how long it takes. If anything, the wait has made the anticipation bigger than ever. Rockstar isn’t a game studio known for skimping out & recycling games every year like other AAA companies (ex. The CODs, 2Ks, Maddens). They’re in a dominant & unique position where they can take many years between releases and have massive funds to bring in the best talent to develop & design a truly special game over that time period.

bacon_cake

Yeah exactly. Because if it's "guaranteed" it's either backed up by some AAA institution (ie the government) or they've got your investment plus interest in escrow which is pretty much either a ponzi or renders the whole thing pointless.

BanditoBoom

Let’s say you have quite a bit of household debt. Most of your debt is long-term (20 or 30 year), but is floating rate. It is simple interest, with payments twice a year. You have a good credit score. You can service your debt payments just fine, but the cost of your debt just keeps rising and rising with rates increasing. One of your lenders gives you an offer. They will let you refinance your ling-term debt into shorter term debt…AAAAND they will give you a significantly lower interest rate to do so. Making the cost of your debt service go down. This is what the treasury is doing. They realized their ling-term debt is competing with AAA rated corporate debt issuance. If they keep issuing on the long end they will just keep exploding the cost of debt. Is it technically manipulation? Maybe. But I view it as an entity just making mice to manage its debt.

Low_Plastic363

Heard an interesting theory: bonds yields are partly increasing because there is so much corporate AAA debt being issued for Capex and AI build out. There's only so much fixed income debt-buying money to go around. Rates keep going up to entice more, in investment grade bonds, treasuries, private debt, but that pulls people out of equities. Eventually debt market is saturated, equities and depressed, and we get terrible combo of new equities cash raises and government austerity. Plus private borrowing was at high rates which drags on growth ability. The capex ironically kills the market and pops the bubble

Low_Plastic363

Heard an interesting theory: bonds yields are partly increasing because there is so much corporate AAA debt being issued for Capex and AI build out. There's only so much fixed income debt-buying money to go around. Rates keep going up to entice more, in investment grade bonds, treasuries, private debt, but that pulls people out of equities. Eventually debt market is saturated, equities and depressed, and we get terrible combo of new equities cash raises and government austerity. Plus private borrowing was at high rates which drags on growth ability. The capex ironically kills the market and pops the bubble.

strip_club_dj

Honestly lately the indie game companies are where it's out. Rarely do I see a new AAA game come out nowadays that is actually worth the $60+ price tag. Of course I primarily use pc so steam sales come frequently and I haven't purchased a game for full price in a long time.

Ok_Scientist_2762

I was speaking to bonds generically as the US bonds are merely highly trusted bonds. Maybe I was highlighting that faith in the US repayment has recently changed their rating downward. (not AAA any more)

flicter22

Wall Street really said "what if we took the most volatile asset in the semiconductor cycle and made structured credit products out of it." The 2008 guys are watching this from their Hamptons decks with nostalgia. AAA-rated assumes stable utilization and no supply shock. One TSMC disruption or a hyperscaler capex pause and the assumptions fall apart. That said, GPU-backed lending is genuinely a thing now — Microsoft and Google are using H100 fleets as collateral. It's just the "AAA" part that's doing a lot of heavy lifting.

GoTeamLightningbolt

Pokémon are mortgage-backed securities. MTG cards are AAA bonds. No I will not elaborate.

GoTeamLightningbolt

Magic cards are the AAA bonds of the collectable market.

PandaDuckMonster

hey it's a very valid reason - hands on experience - buy what you know. Let's be real, those of us who bought NVDA way back when weren't going "we're going to win the AI race!". It's "I need to buy the latest Nvidia GPU to play my AAA games"

Paul_Robert_

Virgin AAA game studios: *Too scared to release their game near GTA VI* 😰 Chad Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered developers: We know what we've got! *Releases game a week before GTA VI* 🗿

KweenieQ

Bond funds are not like bonds. When you buy into a bond fund, you're buying shares of someone else's bond trades. Your shares rise and fall with market prices on the secondary bond market. More volatility with less return relative to risk. As with equities, you can lose principal. And you have no assurance of any particular rate of return. When you buy noncallable investment-grade corporate bonds or US Treasury bonds, you're lending money to those issuers at a known rate of return. The bond rating (AAA-B) reflects credit worthiness. Holding a bond to maturity pays interest, and face value is returned to you. In that scenario, you lose money only if the issuer goes out of business. (Second possible way to lose money is if you're forced to sell off early and the market price is down. That's why you try hard not to do that.) How much risk a retirement portfolio can tolerate depends a lot on the numbers: total portfolio size relative to operational expenses, plus how tied income is to equity markets. Age and temperament of the retiree matter secondarily: age because the recovery runway's shorter than for a 30-year-old; temperament because retirees want to sleep at night. Fwiw, my portfolio hovers around 60/40 overall. My retirement accounts lean more conservative, while my taxable accounts run riskier. I pay my bills in retirement with sources not directly tied to any of that principal.