Grammies add video game category

Video game music and its composers are represented in a new, separate category: Video Game Score.

This means the first nominations for Video Game Music have been made by the Grammy Awards. Video games were previously included in the Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category. 

The nominations come as the Grammy Awards now joins the UK’s BAFTA Awards in recognising the often-underappreciated video game score when it comes to the music industry as a whole.

BAFTA nominated composer Olivier Deriviere says: “For the first time in the history of the Grammys, video game music will be having its own category to celebrate the talented video game composers. For the longest time video game composers never had the opportunity to be rewarded to the highest level in a solo category. 

“This is a huge milestone that proves the interest from the music industry. I dearly hope that having this Music Academy recognition from the Grammys will now push video game music into a new realm, giving it the opportunity to showcase its uniqueness and growing maturity.”

Deriviere’s composition A Plague Tale: Requiem has received a nomination from The Game Awards for Best Score and Music.

While the music industry as a whole has a long way to go in highlighting and accepting the part video games play in uplifting the industry, this new category is the beginning on the long-winded road of recognition for composers working on video games.