First, if you start researching marketing for a AAA game and then cancel it, it is not possible to start researching it again later (that is, until you start another AAA game). I don’t know if this is on purpose, but I’ve been hit by it twice now, and it’s quite a bummer.
Second, it seems like after producing AAA games which, due to their longer development time, produce way more Tech and Design point than other size games, producing any smaller game produces worse scores. According to the Wiki, games are scored based on whether they are better than your previous games, but making a Large game better than a AAA game is quite difficult. Would be good if the game could cater for this and perhaps track game performance per size, not just globally.