Game Music Digest | Heavy Metal, Sabrina Carpenter & Transmedia Music Boosts
Why video game adaptations are great news for game composers
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Heavy Metal Music is Thriving in Video Games - But Opportunities Remain
In Brief: Netflix’s animated TV series for Capcom’s Devil May Cry video game franchise boasts a ‘00s era nu metal soundtrack featuring new music from Evanescence. Vocalist Amy Lee was recently interviewed by publications such as Metal Hammer, The Mirror and GamesRadar to talk about her lifelong love of video games. As this op-ed in GameRant highlights, the original music and sync placements in Devil May Cry are reminiscent of the bygone era of animated music videos in the early days of YouTube, where people would create custom music videos (usually for alternative bands) by splicing footage from their favourite video games and anime.
EXP: As the millions of views for these old AMVs highlight, there’s always been a natural link between heavy metal and geek culture, whether that’s video games, manga or anime. And given the last few months have seen a mountain of announcements regarding metal collaborations in video games, now seems like the perfect opportunity to explore that relationship and the future of metal and alternative music in video games.
Here are some of the most recent collaborations I’ve spotted:
Metal/rock band Djerv writing the titular track for the action rogue-like video game, Reignbreaker.
WWE 2K25 launching with its most metal soundtrack ever, featuring songs from Knocked Loose, Spiritbox, Gojira and Architects.
Cult of Luna joining the likes of Northlane on the soundtrack for the upcoming music RPG, Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson.
Clifford Mayer formerly of post-metal bands ISIS (not the prescribed terror organisation) and Red Sparowes composing the soundtrack for Axis Unseen.
Free-to-play shooter Warframe teaming up with members from Periphery to write ‘Lamenting the Days’ an original song for the game.
Megadeth collaborating with the mobile game Massive Warfare for a special in-game event.
Artists from Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Polyphia and many more working on a metal version of the soundtrack for Cult of the Lamb.
Members from Born of Osiris and Monuments voicing characters in Traveler’s Refrain, another music-focussed RPG.
Sabaton bassist Par Sundstrom founding his own video game studio!
Of course, this is just a small snippet of all the cool stuff that’s happening with metal and alternative music in the gaming space, but as someone who grew up listening to metal music and spent five years touring the UK and Europe in a metalcore band, it’s great to see the relationship between metal and gaming go from strength to strength.
That said, I believe there’s a lot more that can be done in the space. There’s a natural crossover between video games and rock metal music, which I think is largely down to the subcultures of both spaces sitting outside of perceived societal norms. "Maybe it's a slight sense of not feeling like you're really fitting in with the majority, which is so common," While She Sleeps guitarist Sean Long explains to BBC Newsbeat. “You find other means to express yourself and the stuff that everyone else seems to be doing maybe isn't resonating with you as much."
A 2018 study carried out by Deezer found the most popular genre amongst Americans was rock music. As someone who grew up as a metalhead surrounded by other metalheads, I also believe that metalheads are some of most passionate music fans when it comes to supporting artists. Studies also confirm this, with a 2015 Spotify study finding metal fans are the most loyal across music genres. Given the potential for ‘superfan’ purchases here, there are surprisingly few opportunities for metalheads to support their favourite artists in games through themed (licensed) in-game purchases.
And despite the examples I’ve linked above, I don’t believe the audiences for rock, metal and alternative music are being adequately catered for in the global gaming market, with only a small number of games boasting heavy soundtracks or music from these genres in its radio stations, one of my favourite examples being the dedicated Nuclear Blast radio station in Saints Row.
Of course, one of the challenges here from a game studio perspective might be the risk of alienating players with heavy music. For all of the heavy metal fans out there, there are plenty of people who still bemoan the sound of “screaming” or “lyrics they can’t understand.” That, and the focus of any decent audio director or music lead will always be making sure the music is the right fit for the game.
But when it works, it works, as discovered by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the soundtrack for DOOM 2016, a modernised reboot of the first-player-shooter franchise which pits players against demon hordes in Hell. One of the original pre-conditions for the Doom 2016 soundtrack was “no metal”, but the decision to eventually embrace the genre led to Doom 2016 becoming one of the most popular video game soundtracks of all time, with more than 550 million streams on Spotify.
“The guitar is more about aggression, and there’s actually a technical reason for why I use guitar in some of the songs. There’s a lot of noise in the game already—there are demons screaming, gunshots, explosions, machinery—and guitar is an instrument which really cuts through, it’s really obvious,” composer Mick Gordon told PC Gamer back in 2016.
Outside of DOOM, the biggest examples of metal music finding mainstream appeal are the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, where players used plastic instruments to play along to music across a variety of genres, but mainly rock, punk and metal. Guitar Hero 3 was the first video game to gross $1 billion in sales, and the franchise had surpassed 35 million in sales by 2010. Rock Band, which launched as a competitor to Guitar Hero, surpassed $1 billion in sales in just 15 months after launch.
Harmonix, the studio responsible for creating both franchises, is now owned by Fortnite creator Epic Games. While Rock Band and Guitar Hero (now owned by Activision) are both on hiatus, Epic acquired Harmonix in November 2021, which led to the creation of Fortnite’s very-own rhythm game mode, Fortnite Festival.
While Festival features a massive selection of songs (known as Jam Tracks), it hasn’t embraced rock, metal and the surrounding sub genres in the same way Rock Band and Guitar Hero did. As Fortnite is a live-service game, Festival operates on a seasonal basis where a headline act (known as the Festival Icon) is the main focus of the season and gets their music and likeness put into the game through skins and other in-game items. Eight seasons in and Metallica is the only rock/metal band that’s appeared as a headline act.
There are millions of lapsed Guitar Hero and Rock Band players that would probably engage with the game (especially as it’s free!) if Festival leaned into its heavy metal roots a bit more. I count myself as one of them. I purchased a guitar controller so I could play Festival properly but I don’t find the current line-up of songs – which is predominantly pop and hip-hop – enticing enough to stick with the game.
Outside of the occasional collaborations mentioned at the top of this piece, I believe there’s a huge gap in the market for video games targeting fans of rock, metal and alternative music. Pär Sundström, bassist and manager of metal band Sabaton, founded his own game studio last year and their debut title – a heavy metal festival simulation/management game – will launch in 2017. Like Brutal Legend and Metal Hellsinger that came before it, we need more games like this (please!)
Sabrina Carpenter is the Icon for Fortnite Festival Season 8
In brief: Epic Games announced Sabrina Carpenter as the Icon for Fortnite Festival Season 8. In addition to Jam Tracks for ‘Juno’ and ‘Nonsense’, players can purchase and unlock Sabrina Carpenter-themed instruments, skins and emotes. The two Sabrina Carpenter Outfits mean players can basically play as Carpenter in other Fortnite game modes, and the two Emotes are based on dance moves synced to music from ‘Taste’ and ‘Please Please Please’.
EXP: I’m not a Sabrina Carpenter fan, but these are some of the most impressive Fortnite skins I’ve seen so far. They come with custom animations (check out this video here for a deeper look) and the two custom Emotes are already doing the rounds in viral videos on social media platforms. One of my favourite videos is a shoot-off turned dance-off.
I’m going to make a very reasonable assumption and guess these skins will sell very well. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if an activation with this calibre of star is encouraging Carpenter fans to check out Fortnite for the first time, just to get their hands on the Sabrina Carpenter Outfits.
BUT if the activation is bringing people into the game, it doesn’t look like it’s bringing many of them into Fortnite Festival. I used Fortnite.gg to analyse active player accounts in Fortnite Festival and while there’s been a spike in new players (as is the case for every new season), it hasn’t hit the same numbers as previous collaborations with virtual artist Hatsune Miku, rapper Snoop Dogg, pop star Karol G and metal band Metallica. [disclaimer: these numbers are unofficial and taken from a third party platform, so won’t be 100% accurate!]
That said, the number of people playing Festival likely won’t matter as much as how many people are buying Sabrina Carpenter things, especially as the Outfits and Emotes are usable in other game modes.
Transmedia Music Boosts - How Composers (and fans) are Benefiting from Game Music in TV and Film Adaptations
In brief: The Minecraft film – which has now surpassed $552 million at box office – features three songs from the game’s original soundtracks: ‘Minecraft’ and ‘Dragon’ by C418, and ‘Pigstep’ by Lena Raine. The success of the film and the inclusion of original music from the game is sending new listeners to both artists on Spotify. C418 has gained more than 500k monthly Spotify listeners since the film’s release on April 4th, while Raine has gained nearly 200k.
EXP: Critics hate it. Minecraft fans love it. Regardless of how you look at it, the Minecraft film has been an overwhelming success. Of course, it helps that Minecraft is one of the biggest video game franchises in the world, but it also stays true to what players love about the game – something that so many video game adaptations have got wrong over the years by deviating too far from the original source material – who would have ever guessed that appealing to the billions of gamers rather than alienating them could be a formula for success?!
Christopher Dring at The Game Business recently interviewed Story Kitchen, a production company specialising in video game adaptations such as Sonic The Hedgehog and the upcoming Tomb Raider TV series. The long history of video game adaptations means there are more flops than success stories, but that’s starting to change as producers treat these adaptations and the source material more seriously. “The issue was never games. The issue was who was adapting the games and how they were being adapted,” producer and Story Kitchen co-founder Dmitri M Johnson tells Dring.
I believe music is an essential part of the adaptation process for video games. Players can spend hundreds of hours listening to video game music, and it simply doesn’t make sense when a video game adaptation – whether it’s film or TV – doesn’t include or at least reference the melodies that players will be most familiar with. It’s telling that the most successful (profitable) adaptations in recent years such as Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Mario have plenty of nods to the music and jingles in the video games. All of the highest rated comments on the title reveal video for Sonic The Hedgehog 3 are about the inclusion of ‘Live and Learn’ - one of the most popular songs from the franchise.
In other news…
Fortnite has launched its annual collaboration with Coachella, but most of the action is taking place in a custom UEFN game this time. Players can also grab custom emotes and jam tracks from Coachella artists. [Link]
Forbes is a big fan of a new XR rhythm game for Meta Quest that turns your living room (or kitchen or bathroom!) into a studio. [Link]
It’s a big month for Minecraft as the game’s original soundtrack enters the US National Recording Registry. [Link]
Sony artist Sleepy Hallow will premiere an exclusive virtual concert in a custom Fortnite UEFN experience on April 18. IMO accessibility remains a big barrier to these experiences as most activations don’t tell non-Fortnite players how to access the events! [Link]
How many video game concerts is too many video game concerts? Sony is reportedly cancelling some dates for its upcoming PlayStation in Concert tour. UK dates remain unaffected. [Link]
To add some context to the above, I believe poor sales for the PlayStation concert are simply down to the tour schedule being too ambitious, as new research “suggests performance of video game music by symphony orchestras has and will continue to open new pathways for listening, performance and composition that is increasing audience engagement in symphonic music.” [Link]
Wake Forest University will host a three-day “We Play Together: Music & Gaming” event from April 17 to 19. The event is free and open to the public. [Link]
HoYoverse has announced that tickets are now on sale for the first-ever U.S. Special Screening of the Honkai: Star Rail 2025 Anniversary Concert. The screening will take place on 10 May 2025 at the Regal Irvine Spectrum in Irvine, California, offering fans a unique chance to experience the concert in a cinema setting. [Link]
Did you know that video games often have different soundtracks for regional releases to cater to distinct music preferences? TheGamer has a round-up of the most interesting ones. [Link]
Listen to…
A new tribute album featuring arrangements of music from Donkey Kong Country, FINAL FANTASY VII, Super Mario 64 celebrates under water music in video games. [Link]
Devil May Cry 5 composer Casey Edwards has written a new song for Street Fighter. [Link]
Metal music in video games! The new soundtrack for the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages is shaping up to be something special. [Link]
I love it when I discover a new piece of music and recognise a video game sample! This time it’s Boom Bip sampling music from Hyrule Symphony in Roads Most Roll.
want to learn about the Heavy Metal Music Scene and the Western Inteligence opperations overlape? Let me explain this podcast:
https://open.substack.com/pub/soberchristiangentlemanpodcast/p/heavy-metal-history-and-secret-government?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=31s3eo