From ‘Astro Bot’ to ‘Arcane’: Inside the Game Awards’ Plan to Honor Gaming Industry Music With Twenty One Pilots, Snoop Dogg and In-House Orchestra
The nominations for the 2024 Game Awards were revealed Nov. 18 — less than a month out from the show itself. And seeing as one of the key moments of the Geoff Keighley-hosted annual event is the giant montage performance of that year’s best score and music noms, it’s a good thing Game Awards Orchestra conductor Lorne Balfe started preparing for the Dec. 12 well before he knew which games would even make the cut.
“You’re constantly checking in every couple of months to see what new games are coming out,” Balfe told Variety. “It’s like Oscar buzz, people are talking about a great movie six months before the awards. So it’s about familiarizing yourself when a new game comes out, and if everybody’s talking about it and enjoying it, there’s a chance this could be it. And there’s always an outsider, but when a game comes out like ‘Astro Bot,’ and everybody was talking about it, I thought, I’m going to listen to it and see what’s there and start building up for it. None of it is meant to be a massive heart attack shock, but you don’t know, and then you just kind of hit the ground running. You’ve got to constantly keep refreshing your brain with when a game comes out and go, well, that could be in it, and that could be in it, and that could be in it, too.”
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This year, the Game Awards nominees for best score and music include “Astro Bot,” “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,” “Metaphor: ReFantazio,” “Silent Hill 2” and “Stellar Blade.” But beyond the orchestra’s rendition of iconic songs from these games and other Game Awards noms in different categories, Balfe is coordinating additional musical moments, like a teamup with Twenty One Pilots, d4vd and Royal & the Serpent for performances of their three respective soundtrack songs from Season 2 of Netflix’s “Arcane,” a series based on Riot Games’ “League of Legends.”
“It’s going to be very iconic. And the reason is because I think so many musicians and artists are so invested — not financially, but emotionally invested in gaming, and they want to be part of it,” Balfe said. “And this performance it’s been specially created for the show, so it’s the way we’re doing it. It it’s been an amazing privilege to have David Campbell, the arranger, involved with it, who has worked with probably every band on the planet. He is a legend. And what we’re doing with the visuals is something that’s going to treat the fan base, but more importantly, it’s a legitimate performance. Whether you’re connected to a game or not, it doesn’t matter, it’s going to make you so connected to this journey of that game. It’s been a long time in the works. And that’s the thing: we’ve got so many different musical spots, because you’ve got a spot like that, compared to something like the game montage where you’re having to kind of get it done in a week.”
And those orchestral accompaniments are just one piece of the larger musical plans for the Game Awards, which will also include performances by musical guests like Snoop Dogg, who is debuting a new track at the show. Additional musical guests will be revealed ahead of the Game Awards’ live show at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Dec. 12. The ceremony will live stream for free across YouTube and other social channels.
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