This year the Grammy Awards introduced a new award category, ‘Best Score Soundtrack for Video Game and Other Interactive Media’. Considering that the games industry is bigger than the film and music industries combined (in 2021 the global games market generated $180 Billion in revenue and by 2022 video games outsold music and films in the UK for the 11th time in a row), it took so long for the Grammys  officially recognize game composers

For decades, this music has become a big part of people’s lives. It means a lot to a lot of people especially when film and TV soundtracks used to be in one category. This separation will give the media a different approach to music.

Like, there’s a lot more music in TV shows. So there are opportunities for more musical and thematic development. The separation would place video game music on the platform it deserves. But in particular, video games work very differently on the musical spectrum. They are interactive, they respond to the player, and they immerse the player on a whole different level. So for that soundtrack to be recognizable on its own just validates that we have a huge role to play in connecting with people on a deep level.

Around the world, the impact of games is staggering, and music plays a huge role in building those worlds and building those memories for players. We’re all thrilled as a game composers to be recognized and it means a lot to gamers too, who have loved this music for a long time, to see it for themselves on stage.

Music from video games will now be included in this prestigious award.

The announcement was released directly by the Grammy Awards social media account which is now introducing several new categories. In the description, this category will be given to soundtrack albums which mostly consist of original scoring songs. Purpose-built for, or as a companion to, video games or other interactive media released within the qualifying period.

The video game soundtrack category is one of five categories to be added to the upcoming 2023 Grammy Awards. Other categories include Songwriter of the Year (Non-Classical), Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Americana Performance, and also Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. mentioned that the addition of these five categories is to accommodate the various communities and music creators that currently exist. Because the main priority of this award is to represent musicians and follow the growing music industry.

Music in video games is certainly one of the important aspects of building the identity and mood of the game. Regardless of the genre, a game must have a soundtrack or even a scoring song to make it iconic and memorable for gamers.

The relationship between music artists and video games has also been established for a long time. Many artists create songs or music specifically for video games or vice versa, while developers create games specifically for musicians. Like Guitar Hero which has special games for Metallica and Aerosmith.