Better luck next year, Extreme Paintbrawl
Tonight is the biggest night and music, and for composer Stephanie Economou, it might be one of the biggest nights of her career. The seasoned musician was one of five people up for a Grammy this year for video game music. This is the first year the category has been a part of the show, and given how instrumental music is to the gaming industry and how easy it is to access your favorite scores on Spotify and Apple Music, one would hope it will be here for many years to come. The award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, which is the award’s official name, was handed out in the Grammy’s pre-show, going to Economou for her work on the score soundtrack for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok.
Dawn of Ragnarok is the expansion for AC Valhalla that was released in March of last year to decent reviews. Clearly, the music from the game was more than just decent as Economou managed to take the gramophone over some pretty tough competition. Other nominees including in this inaugural batch were Austin Wintory for Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Bear McCreary for Call of Duty: Vanguard, Richard Jacques for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Christopher Tin for Old World.
Expect to see Bear McCreary up for this award again next year with his work on the Game Award-winning score to God of War: Ragnarok. Here’s to hoping with this category around, we’ll start seeing every video game publisher releasing their scores and soundtracks commercially. I know I would appreciate having the entirety of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 soundtrack at the ready for when I take my walks every day.
