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Los Angeles (AFP) – From the “The Legend of Zelda” theme to the catchy “Super Mario Bros” score, sound and music have long been the foundation of the gaming experience.
And now, in a move that many fans and insiders believe is long overdue, the Recording Academy has for the first time created a Grammy category specifically honoring a video game soundtrack, acknowledging the profound impact that gaming and the associated music have had on pop culture.
Previously, video games were included in the Visual Media Score Soundtrack category, which also featured music for film and television.
But many industry players saw that as comparing apples to oranges, pushing for a video game category in its own right, which they’ve finally achieved.
The inaugural class of nominees honors the composers behind “Aliens: Fireteam Elite,” “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarok,” “Call Of Duty: Vanguard,” “Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy,” and “Old World.”
The winner will be announced at Sunday’s gala in Los Angeles.
“It still doesn’t seem quite real,” says Richard Jacques, the British artist who wrote the Marvel score.
‘Compelling’
Jacques is a classically trained musician who studied at the London Academy of Music and has been active in the music industry for nearly three decades.
In 2001, he scored his debut for a major orchestral project, the first video game score ever recorded at the iconic Abbey Road studios.
But gaining mainstream “recognition of the craft we put into our scores” is slow, Jacques told AFP.
He said the new Grammy category “finally gives us the kind of gravitas we’ve been looking for for so long.”
According to a projection from the Global Games Market Report, the global games industry could reach nearly $200 billion by 2022, and a recent Deloitte survey in the United States, Britain, Germany, Brazil and Japan said video games are the best entertainment his source for Gen Z.
Many young gamers cite music as an integral part of the experience, with a third of respondents saying they’ve looked up gaming music online afterwards and 29 percent saying they’ve often discovered new music while gaming.
“Gamers are really listening… it’s a big part of shaping their experience for that game,” says Grammy nominee Stephanie Economou, a Los Angeles-based composer who has also scored films and television shows.
“A lot of them can’t separate the music from a game – and that’s a really exciting opportunity for any composer coming in,” the Assassin’s Creed composer told AFP.
The new category “is an important step for people to recognize that video games have been in the zeitgeist for so long.”
Video game composing is “a new way to experience and listen to music,” Economou said.
“It’s compelling and it’s always evolving.”
‘Ever-evolving’
Economou said the transition to video games after years of working in film and television was “quite a steep learning curve” given the non-linear nature of video games, as opposed to the fixed window that is a movie or series.
“In video games, it’s kind of a living, breathing thing,” she said. “It’s constantly evolving and the music has to be loopable and have these multiple layers on top of other layers that can be triggered at any time.”
Jacques said a big part of the challenge – and the fun – is that “the music has to respond to what the player is doing.”
“The most important thing is the choice of the player,” he said. “We could have so many game outcome or story outcomes.”
“Whether they’re in a combat situation or exploring or solving a puzzle, or whatever the nature of the game, it’s our job as video game composers to make sure that becomes a completely seamless interactive experience.”
Recognition of video game composition is kind of a circle moment, as many Grammy-winning artists are gamers themselves.
In 2019, jazz musician Jon Batiste — last year’s Grammy royalty who took home five awards — told the Washington Post that games have inspired him since childhood.
Games “subconsciously taught me about themes and development, how to create catchy themes that you want to hear over and over,” he said.
“Stories get into people’s heads when they hear these songs.”
© 2023 AFP