37 articles
Adaptive music
Adaptive music is game soundtrack music that changes with game state, also called dynamic or interactive music. Its two core techniques are horizontal re-sequencing and vertical layering; landmark systems include IMUSE (Monkey Island 2) and middleware such as Wwise and FMOD.
Akira Yamaoka (山岡晃)
Akira Yamaoka (山岡晃), born 1968, is a Japanese composer and sound designer who scored Konami's Silent Hill series 1999–2009 and from 2024, produced Silent Hill 3 and 4, and composed for its films, Shadows of the Damned, and Slitterhead.
Baba Yetu
Baba Yetu, Christopher Tin's Swahili Lord's Prayer theme for Civilization IV (2005), re-recorded with the Soweto Gospel Choir on Calling All Dawns, won the 2011 Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), the first video game music Grammy.
Bobby Prince
Bobby Prince (Robert Caskin Prince III, 1945-2026) was an American video game composer and former lawyer who created the MIDI metal soundtracks of Doom, Doom II, Wolfenstein 3D, and Duke Nukem 3D for id Software and Apogee.
Borislav Slavov (Борислав Славов)
Borislav Slavov (Борислав Славов), Bulgarian video game composer born 1973 in Sofia; composer of Divinity: Original Sin II and Baldur's Gate 3, winner of the 2024 BAFTA Games Music Award, now scoring Larian's Divinity.
C418
C418 is German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, composer of Minecraft's original soundtrack (Minecraft: Volume Alpha, 2011; Volume Beta, 2013), later inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry; also known for the album Excursions.
Chiptune
Chiptune (chip music, 8-bit music): electronic music made with or emulating the sound chips of 1980s-90s computers and consoles like the Commodore 64, Amiga, and Game Boy, with trackers such as LSDj and Nanoloop and a global subculture.
FMOD
FMOD (Firelight Technologies, first released 1995) is game audio middleware: FMOD Studio authoring tool plus FMOD Core runtime, with Unity and Unreal integrations, used in Fortnite, Hollow Knight, and Celeste.
Frank Klepacki
Frank Klepacki (born 1974, Las Vegas) is an American video game composer and audio director, famed for Westwood's Command & Conquer scores and "Hell March"; Petroglyph audio director, solo Rocktronic album series, Tiberian Sons live band.
Gareth Coker
Gareth Coker, British video game composer in Los Angeles; Ori and the Blind Forest, Halo Infinite, Minecraft, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown; two Ivor Novello Awards, D.I.C.E. and SXSW winner.
Hiroki Kikuta (菊田裕樹)
Hiroki Kikuta (菊田裕樹), born 1962 in Aichi, is a Japanese composer and game designer who scored Secret of Mana (1993) and Seiken Densetsu 3 for Square, founded Sacnoth, and produced Koudelka; distinct from other Kikuta namesakes.
Hitoshi Sakimoto (崎元仁)
Hitoshi Sakimoto (崎元仁), born 1969 in Tokyo, is a Japanese video game composer of Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, Vagrant Story, and Valkyria Chronicles, and founder-president of the music production company Basiscape (2002).
Jeremy Soule
Jeremy Soule (born 1975, Keokuk, Iowa) is an American composer of orchestral video game scores: Secret of Evermore, Total Annihilation, Elder Scrolls Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim, Guild Wars, Harry Potter games; 2004 BAFTA winner; 2019 misconduct allegations he denied.
Jesper Kyd
Jesper Kyd, BAFTA-winning Danish composer of the Assassin's Creed, Hitman, Borderlands, Darksiders, State of Decay, and Warhammer Darktide scores; creator of the theme "Ezio's Family".
Koji Kondo (近藤浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤浩治, born 1960) is Nintendo's veteran composer, creator of the Super Mario Bros. Ground Theme and The Legend of Zelda scores; his 1985 Mario theme was the first video game music in the National Recording Registry.
Lena Raine
Lena Raine (Lena Chappelle, kuraine), American composer and game developer in Seattle; scored Celeste (ASCAP Video Game Score of the Year, BAFTA-nominated), contributed Minecraft Nether Update, Caves & Cliffs Part II, and Wild Update music, and released the solo album Oneknowing.
Mick Gordon (composer)
Mick Gordon (Michael John Gordon) is an Australian video game composer and sound designer known for Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, the Wolfenstein reboots, Prey, and Killer Instinct; his distorted metal-electronic Doom scores won Game Awards and D.I.C.E. honors before a 2020 soundtrack dispute with id Software and Bethesda ended the collaboration.
Mikolai Stroinski
Mikolai Stroinski (Mikołaj Stroiński) is a Polish composer born in Nairobi, based in Los Angeles, co-composer of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and composer of Ethan Carter, Age of Empires 4, and Diablo Immortal.
Miracle of Sound
Miracle of Sound, also MiracleOfSound, is the independent music project of Irish songwriter Gavin Dunne, writing songs about video games, TV, and movies; over a billion streams, viral hit Valhalla Calling, Level album series, first physical album Materia (2024).
Music in rhythm and music-based games
Music in rhythm and music-based games is gameplay where music is the mechanic: songs become note charts, timing is judged within millisecond windows, and licensing shapes the song roster.
Music of Kingdom Hearts
The Music of Kingdom Hearts, also known as Kingdom Hearts music, is the soundtrack of the Disney and Square Enix series, composed by Yoko Shimomura since 2002.
Music of Minecraft
The music of Minecraft is the ambient soundtrack of Mojang's 2011 sandbox game, composed primarily by C418 and extended since 2020 by Lena Raine, Samuel Åberg, and Aaron Cherof.
Music of Nier
Music of Nier: video game music of Square Enix's NieR series, composed by Keiichi Okabe's studio MONACA with vocals by Emi Evans in invented 'chaos language'; soundtracks for Gestalt/Replicant (2010), Automata (2017), Re[in]carnation, plus arrangement albums and concerts.
Narayana Johnson
Narayana Johnson, aka River Boy, Australian composer and half of Willow Beats; scored Cult of the Lamb, won the first WSA Game Music Award (2023), died in 2025 during the Woolhaven expansion.
Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫)
Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫), born 1959 in Kochi, is the self-taught Japanese composer of Final Fantasy I-IX, creator of 'One-Winged Angel' and 'Eyes on Me', founder of The Black Mages, Smile Please, and Dog Ear Records, and record-holder of 535+ video game concert performances.
OverClocked ReMix
OverClocked ReMix, founded by David Lloyd (djpretzel) in late 1999, is a not-for-profit website publishing free fan arrangements of video game music through a curated, volunteer-run process.
Rob Hubbard
Rob Hubbard (born 1956) is a British composer, the most celebrated Commodore 64 SID chip game musician, known for Monty on the Run, Commando, Delta, and EA titles like Skate or Die and Road Rash; joined Electronic Arts in 1989.
Roblox oof
The Roblox oof is the platform's iconic default death sound, used from 2004 until a 2022 licensing dispute with Tommy Tallarico removed it, and restored by Roblox in July 2025.
Super Mario Bros. theme
Super Mario Bros. theme: Koji Kondo's 1985 NES score, chiefly the Overworld main theme, built on the Ricoh 2A03's five channels with swing rhythm and noise-channel drums; hummed by 66% of polled US college students in 1999.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is Capcom's 2008 XBLA/PSN remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, developed by Backbone Entertainment with UDON HD art, OverClocked ReMix music, a rebalanced 17-character mode, and 250,000+ units sold.