Few sustainable industries have expanded as rapidly or as impressively as the video game sector. Although gaming dates back to the 1970s, it was the launch of the first gaming systems in the 1980s that laid the foundations for what was to come. And in the Internet age, gaming has exploded dramatically, with well over three-quarters of Millennials and Gen Z regularly gaming.
As the gaming industry has grown, so have game developers’ budgets and ambitions. Increasingly, the top games have budgets and production values that rival big Hollywood movies. This crossover is typical of the way that the lines between the various parts of the digital entertainment sector are becoming blurred.
Functional sounds are not the reason games are creating a buzz at awards shows. These new Hollywood-inspired “Triple A” titles hire world-class composers and musicians to create a library of music to entice an emotional reaction from a player. Let’s explore the journey of how game sounds have evolved from rudimental beeps to Grammy Award-winning soundscapes.
Three-note Beginnings
The very first 8-bit games had just three notes, and even when the NES came out in the mid-1980s, the musical possibilities were strictly limited. In fact, in those early days, it was not possible to have music and sound effects playing at the same time. It was rare to have a dedicated developer working on the sound of a game, so the soundtrack often took a back seat.
At the same time, the very best soundtracks from the 1980s and 1990s have become extremely influential, particularly in the EDM and synthwave genres, and the ingenuity shown by those early composers laid the groundwork for what was to follow.
Nowadays, most games have a dedicated soundtrack team with a huge budget to create engaging, immersive music to accompany the gaming experience. The increasing role of the soundtrack in the video game sector has been recognized in the wider entertainment industry with the launch of a Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games category at the 2023 Grammys.
This may have grabbed the headlines, but it is a logical step, given the rapid growth of the video game sector and the crucial importance of a soundtrack in helping to create an immersive and engaging game world for the demanding global gaming customer base.
Simulating Reality
Games are often known for the beeps and noises that indicate to a player “something has happened”, these are fundamental in the design of a game. Playing a game with the sound muted will quickly reveal how important they really are.
But by using technology like spatial audio, developers can emulate how sounds behave in the physical world creating new levels of realism for the player. Footsteps echoing in a corridor or wind blowing through an open window are great examples of how this technology can be used. Pairing this with techniques with directional audio (simulating the origin point of audio) help create realistic 3D sounds, this is important for developers looking to make games that are hyper-realistic or emulating familiar real world environments.
A fantastic example of this is shown in online casino games. Looking at the highest-rated games on CasinoTopsOnline reveals the high production quality devoted to emulating the sounds of traditional casino games, and simulating the atmosphere of the casino floor. This combined with the functional audio giving players immediate feedback through simple sounds, help to keep the player immersed.
A Global Business
The video game industry is a multi-billion-dollar global marketplace, and that in itself offers an opportunity for musicians and composers. In fact, having a track feature on a big-selling game offers a level of exposure and recognition that would otherwise take years to build up, and gamers, particularly those in the Gen Z demographic, are strongly influenced by music that they hear in video games.
The video game sector is arguably bigger than both the film and the music industries put together. Part of the reason for this may be that video game companies are quick to embrace new technology. In fact, this is essential to stay ahead of the competition, which makes it an extremely dynamic sector ideally positioned to appeal to each new generation and respond to any new trend.
Unique Challenge of Game Music
There are some similarities between the routes that composers and musicians in the traditional music business have to take, and the way that entry into the video game sector occurs. In both cases, hard work is required, along with establishing a unique voice and getting your work in front of people.
There are also, however, some significant differences—the most significant being the fact that mastering video game music requires a good level of technical knowledge, along with a grasp on the way that sounds perform digitally. So, while there are some crossovers, game music is an area of media and creativity that has its own distinct qualities.
As video game companies find ever more innovative ways to monetize their games, game music composers are also benefitting, and the gap between the two forms of media continues to close, with the increasing recognition of game music as a genre in its own right. The fact that game music is itself generating millions of streams has made this genre attractive to a whole new generation.
The Grammy category may be just the start. It is not too far-fetched to imagine an Oscar for Best Game Music at some point in the future. And, given the fact that a video game is much more long-lived media than a movie or a TV show, with some games being updated and remaining fresh over many years, it isn’t hard to imagine a situation in which composers or musicians prefer to place their music in video games, rather than traditional media.
This is already starting to happen In Grand Theft Auto, one DLC (downloadable content) featured Dr Dre recording a song. It is possible to see a scenario in which artists or DJs might release albums exclusively within a game, or run an in-game radio station. The possibilities are intriguing, and it is likely that more and more mainstream artists will be looking at video games as a new way to get their music out there and build their reputation.
Future Game Music Challenges
The future of video game music is not without challenges, however. Ironically, one of the biggest challenges comes from the very technological innovation that has, for so long, powered the development of video games.
At one time, the barriers to entry into the music industry were high. Yet now, thanks to ever more widely available music-making technology, it is increasingly easy for people to make music. And while this “democratization” of music-making could bring in many more new and inventive creators, it could also lead to a decline in quality as supply outstrips demand and forces down the fees for creators, forcing some of them out of the sector.
Then there’s AI. This technology has been disrupting every sector of the global economy, and it threatens to do the same for the video game music industry. If video game developers can ask AI to produce a suitable soundtrack, what will musicians be needed for? On the other hand, you could even end up in a situation where a musician has AI make a video game in order to serve as a platform for their music, reversing the current hierarchy.
Conclusion
From the first eight-bit three-note sound effects to the latest Grammy-Award-winning game soundtrack, the video game music sector has been on an incredible journey. The way that video game music has gone from strength to strength has underlined how important music is in this genre.
Video games create entire new worlds, some of which are pure fantasy, and some of which are familiar, but they all need music. The future of music in video games, like the future of gaming itself, is rife with possibility, and thanks to ongoing technological developments, music creators will have new ways to tell their stories and interact with fans.
