Music and video games (1)

Video games are a multisensory experience, and that is probably what makes them so immersive. It may not be obvious at first glance, but music contributes enormously to the success of a video game, and it is now as important as a film's soundtrack. As early as the 90s, games such as Silent Hill and Grand Theft Auto owed their fame to their sound atmosphere almost as much as to their gameplay and story.

For millions of people, video games have been a way to discover new bands or to dive into musical genres they would not otherwise have been interested in.

Music is a particularly powerful medium when you want to create atmospheres, evoke imaginary worlds and tell an epic story. Discovering a piece of music while immersed in a game you love – often alone, in the dark – is a unique experience, extremely gripping and memorable.

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Today, game soundtracks are fully part of players' universe and imagination, and video game publishers are well aware of it. They therefore give it more and more importance. But it has not always been this way. Let yourself be guided as we take you on a tour of the history and current state of video game music.

Pong: where it all began

It was in the 1970s that the first arcade machines were fitted with speakers – originally to draw visitors' attention to this new activity. The first game to be given sound this way was the famous Pong, which marks the beginning of music in video games. These little “beeps”, which seem simplistic to us today, were in fact a real revolution: they announced the arrival of music as a tool for creating atmosphere in this emerging pastime.

The creativity of 8-bit

In the 1980s, technical progress made it possible to store slightly more elaborate music, but barely. 8-bit and then 16-bit music had to be memorable, and pleasant to listen to despite hundreds of repetitions – technical limits did not allow for long, varied tracks. Atmospheres therefore had to be created with very few notes, and the first composers of sound atmospheres drew in particular on J.S. Bach to fuel their creativity and design these very simple, but not simplistic, motifs.

In the mid-80s Nintendo hired its first official composer, Kenji Kondo. The music of games such as Mario Bros and Zelda became famous – almost as successful as the games themselves. It was also Kenji Kondo who organized the very first concert combining classical music and video games in Tokyo. Both a composer and a conductor, he would become an essential figure of video game music.

Performance by Kenji Kondo playing the music of Super Mario

In the 1990s, the arrival of the CD and the spread of PCs and consoles into homes came with progress that allowed games to include the sounds of real instruments. The video game industry therefore needed composers able to enrich the increasingly elaborate fantasy worlds of video games with equally rich music.

It was once again in Japan that the artist Michiru Yamane, employed by Konami, created in 1997 the famous music of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. A graduate of one of Japan's most prestigious music academies, she composed 44 tracks that accompany this innovative exploration game and its baroque, fantastical, offbeat world. The composer's influences are eclectic and bold – ranging from metal to classical music, with occasional detours into pop or jazz.

Considered one of the best video game soundtracks of all time, this timeless music has lost none of its power today.

Zelda: when the player becomes a musician

But it is the Legend of Zelda series that marks a true revolution in video game music – by inviting the player into the soundtrack itself. The music of this instalment draws on themes already used in A Link to the Past and in the original Legend of Zelda. The world of Hyrule takes on a more modern look, yet remains just as familiar to regulars of the series.

But the soundtrack of Ocarina of Time, a game released in 1998 – composed, like the rest of the series' music, by Kenji Kondo – is no longer there only to create an atmosphere – it is now an integral part of the gameplay itself.

Screenshot of the video game Zelda Ocarina of Time

To move forward in the story, you must literally play an instrument, the ocarina of the title, to unlock whole sections of the story, progress through the series of quests, discover secrets and even cast spells.

In 2012, the video game music industry received its first great recognition: composer Austin Wintory was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for his music for the game Journey, a first for a video game.

For such a recent art form, this is extraordinary recognition.

Join us in July to discover some particularly memorable soundtracks, and new practices that could well revolutionize the video game industry and the world of music.