Gaming spotlight


Why the convergence of music and gaming is more important than ever


Stephen Lord, Audio Director at Jagex explores the surging convergence of music and gaming.


V


ideo games and music have been intertwined since the early days of the 8-bit era, when sound in games made


the leap to soundtracks. But as video games have grown to become a leading entertainment type of its own (the games industry pulls in more money than music and film combined), music in games has increasingly moved from the background to the fore. Whether that’s soundtracks being played live by the best orchestras in the world, musicians investing in the gaming space, or music streaming services signing deals in the gaming space, the business opportunity for greater convergence is obvious. To provide a little context, music plays an


important role in storytelling and evoking emotion in gaming. It can create tension, excitement, sadness and fear, highlighting and colouring parts of a story depending on its pace and volume. From the relaxing melodies of Minecraſt to the bombast heavy metal of DOOM, music in modern gaming is oſten present, but rarely focused on in the same way as music in film. Sometimes a piece of music will break out on its own, like Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award winning theme song for the 2005 video game Civilization IV - Baba Yetu. But these are the exception rather than the rule. Tis is at least partly by design. With gaming being a much more


interactive and engaging medium than TV or Film, music in games is oſten designed to simultaneously stimulate your senses and blend into the background of your brain. But this shouldn’t devalue the incredible work that has been put into making video soundtracks for this purpose. At Jagex, our own RuneScape Franchise currently holds the Guiness World Record for the ‘Most original pieces of music in a video game’ at 1,198 - outlining just how much work goes into the process. But this obviously isn’t the only way that music and video games


crossover, and increased cross pollination is being largely driven by the music industry as it seeks new ways to reach millions of untapped ears. Video games have always been a way to introduce players to new music - with series like Grand Teſt Auto, Burnout, and Fallout famously introducing gamers to new artists and entire new genres of music via in-game radio stations. What we are seeing now is music in games taking centre stage by using games as virtual platforms for music-specific events. Live video game events featuring major musicians are nothing new - Ozzy Osbourne headlined Blizzcon in 2009, and the Royal


www.pcr-online.biz


Philharmonic Concert Orchestra has played at Jagex’s own “RuneFest” event - but “Live” in-game events built around concerts are an area expected to see massive growth in the coming years. Over the past few years, musicians including Lil Nas X, Stormzy, Charli XCX, Post Malone and Travis Scott have been reincarnated as digital avatars and performed to crowds attending through a variety of devices. Travis Scott’s Astronomical concert received the most media attention with over 12.3 million concurrent players participated live in the event. But Arianna Grande’s in-game concert was arguably more interesting, involved many mini- games that created an immersive experience different from any previous live-streamed concert. No discussion of music in the games industry


would be complete without mentioning the esports space. Te flashier younger cousin of the games industry, esports has been going from strength to strength in recent years, with global esports revenues hitting $1.084bn in 2021 (a year-on-year rise of 14.5% from 2020) Esports has oſten used live acts in the opening and half time of its major live events, musicians have joined the wave of star athletes investing directly in esports teams, and both streaming services and record labels have been keen to sign deals with first gaming and, more recently, key esports stakeholders. As an audience already interested in new audiovisual experiences,


esports fans (and to a lesser extent gamers as a whole) are a key market for expanding music giants. Last year Spotify partnered with Riot Games to become the exclusive audio-streaming partner for League of Legends’ global events - creating a League of Legends hub on Spotify gathering music, podcasts and playlists around the game. More recently, the Esports Player League (ESPL) partnered with record label Warner Music Asia, allowing ESPL to embed music owned by the record label into its platform. With continued growth predicted for the decade ahead, more


integration between music and the video game space is inevitable. Music enhances the gaming in numberless ways, and the games industry remains fertile ground for growing new audiences for both artists and music license holders. If events like in-game concerts continue to see growth in new frontiers like the VR space, then the most interesting intersections of the two industries are yet to come - as gaming audiences continue to redefine how whole generations engage with media and entertainment brands on a fundamental level.


July 2022 | 37


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52