Music’s biggest night, the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, made history by giving the first-ever award honoring video game scores last Sunday at Los Angeles’ crypto.com arena.
The recipient: Stephanie Economou, composer of the score of the hit action role-playing video game, “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök.”
She won the first-ever Grammy for video game scores, officially named “Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media.”
She bested other nominees for the category, which included Christopher Tin for “Old World,” Richard Jacques for “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy,” Bear McCreary for “Call of Duty: Vanguard,” and Austin Wintory for “Aliens: Fireteam: Elite.” All of them are music composers for the respective games.
‘Incredible’
For years, industry players had lobbied for a prize celebrating the work behind video game scores, an acknowledgment of the impact gaming and its music have on pop culture.
In her acceptance speech, Economou gave praises to those who had urged the Recording Academy to include the category finally.
The video game music composer backstage said the win felt “incredible.”
Economou said, “I did not have high hopes for this category because… I am generally very green in the video game music space and up against such giants and veterans.”
She also noted she was the only woman nominated in the category. She said, “I hope it sets precedent and I hope it’s not just one woman in the category each year from here on out.”
Before this edition of the Grammys, video games were included in the Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category, which also featured music for film and TV.
Music is integral to the gaming experience
According to a project by Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report, the global gaming industry has hit almost $200 billion in 2022. Plus, a recent survey by Deloitte taken across America, Britain, Germany, Brazil, and Japan indicated video games are the top entertainment source for Gen Z.
Several young gamers cite music as integral to the entire experience, with a third of the respondents saying they looked up gaming music online after playing the game and 29 percent even saying they often discovered new music while gaming.
“A lot of them cannot separate the music from a game — and that’s a really exciting opportunity for any composer coming in,” Economou told the media before Sunday’s show.
The new category “is an important step for people to recognize that video games have been in the zeitgeist for so long now.”
In the “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök” game, Eivor must embrace their destiny as Odin, the Norse god of Battle and Wisdom. Playing it, gamers unleash new divine powers as they embark on a desperate quest through a breathtaking world.
The world of gaming is overjoyed, celebrating.
