Games often enlist Hollywood actorsto elevate the storytelling and performances of the characters, but music and sound play just as important a role in establishing a captivating atmosphere. Therefore, some studios opt for the talents of well-known composers in the movie and TV industry to achieve the best possible score for the gameplay experience, even if it’s a mere theme.
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Sometimes the composer’s style pairs perfectly with their portfolio of soundtracks in films, and other times you get something new and original that you want to hear the whole album. And these are some of the Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar-nominated songwriters to score games.
11Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino is the composer of The Incredibles, The Batman, Rogue One, the MCU Spider-Man films, and J.J. Abrams projects like Lost, Alias, and the Star Trek movies. But before he became a big part of blockbuster films and animation, he started his career as a composer for video game developers like Dreamworks Interactive and Pandemic Studios.
His compositions can be heard in the early installments of the groundbreaking FPS war seriesMedal of HonorandCall of Duty, in addition to other games like Gargoyles for the Sega Genesis and adaptations like Small Soldiers and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. And if you played Black, another FPS classic, Giacchino co-composed the game’s theme.
10Bear McCreary
Perhaps you’re familiar with Bear McCreary’s name due to his musical involvement with theGod of Warseries, especially since he wasthe dwarf character named Raeb in Ragnarokplaying the hurdy-gurdy. However, he’s also the composer behindForspoken, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Dark Void, andGotham Knights' opening cinematic.
In the television world, Bear McCreary is a powerhouse composer who developed iconic themes and scores for shows like The Walking Dead, Outlander, Battlestar Galactica, Foundation, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and LOTR: The Rings of Power, to name a few. He’s also scored plenty of sci-fi and horror movies, such as The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Christopher Landon films like Freaky and Happy Death Day.
9Harry Gregson-Williams
In the film industry, Harry Gregson-Williams collaborates with brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott on their films The Last Duel, House of Gucci, Kingdom of Heaven, The Martian, Man on Fire, and Deja Vu. In games, he worked with Hideo Kojima and co-composer Norihiko Hibino on theMetal Gear Solidseries, from Sons of Liberty to Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes.
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And Metal Gear isn’t the only big shooter franchise Gregson-Williams has credits on, as he’s also composed on 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. While his music tends to suit the action thriller genre in games and films, the Shrek movies, The Chronicles of Narnia, Spy Kids, and animated Sinbad films are some of the other projects you’ll hear him on.
8Danny Elfman
The brilliant composer and lyricist of The Nightmare Before Christmas, creator of Michael Keaton’s Batman theme and The Simpsons theme, and helping translate Tim Burton’s vision into sound on films and shows like Beetlejuice, The Corpse Bride, Dark Shadows, and Netflix’s Wednesday collaborated on Fable’s theme.
Although Russel Shaw is the acclaimed composer of the entireFableseries, Danny Elfman aided with the sound for the main theme of the series' first two installments. The instruments and beats in this Fable piece very much echo Elfman’s other musical works.
7Steve Jablonsky
Gears of Warenlisted Steve Jablonsky for the series' second and third installments and the spin-off game Judgement. If you’ve seen films by directors Peter Berg or Michael Bay, there’s a good chance Jablonsky headed the soundtrack. These would include the Transformers films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, The Island, Deepwater Horizon, Lone Survivor, Spenser Confidential, and 2012’s Battleship.
And though it might be his strong suit, thrilling action isn’t the only area where Jablonsky makes music. He also developed music for the iconic life sim gameThe Sims 3and platformerPrince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.
6John Ottman
Not only is John Ottman the composer of Marvel films X-2, Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer, and ABC series The Gifted, but he’s also the Oscar-winning sound editor of Bohemian Rhapsody. While 1995 saw him break into films with The Usual Suspects, he also scoredthe point-and-click psychological thriller video gameI Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream.
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This game is based on the short story of the same name by author Harlan Ellison about an AI supercomputer dystopia teetering on horror, and it’s a genre that Ottman would have much experience with later in films. He’s the composer of Orphan, Halloween H2O, House of Wax, and Lake Placid.
5Angelo Badalamenti
If you’re acquainted with the surrealist works of David Lynch, like Blue Velvet, the TV series Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, and Wild at Heart, the late Angelo Badalamenti has scored them all with his unique sound (even making some cameos here and there). In 2005, he took some time off movies to work with David Cage and Quantic Dream on Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy.
Fahrenheit marked a successful start toQuantic Dream’s signature interactive narrative-driven games, and its disturbing elements pair perfectly with the haunting tone and mood Badalamenti’s music captures in cinema. Like Twin Peaks, the plot of Fahrenheit centers around detectives investigating a murder suspect who’s potentially possessed.
4Ramin Djawadi
Fans of Game of Thrones, Westworld, The Strain, and Prime Video’s Jack Ryan will immediately recognize the music of Ramin Djawadi. You’re already probably humming the Game of Thrones theme just reading this. But what you might not know is that Ramin is also quite active in the music department for video games.
His first video game composer credits include the 2010 reboot of Medal of Honor, its sequel Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and the racing game Shift 2: Unleashed. He also succeeded Jablonsky as composer on the Gears of War series for the fourth and fifth games and lent his talents to Amazon Games' MMONew Worldand Square Enix’sThe DioField Chronicle.
3Trent Reznor
Oscar-winning duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails work a lot with director David Fincher in Hollywood, scoring films like The Social Network, Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and 2023’s The Killer. Bones and All, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, and Pixar’s Soul are some of their other movie collaborations.
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But in video games, Trent Reznor is a solo act with credits onQuakeandCall of Duty: Black Ops 2. As Mick Gordon’s music compliments the newerDoomandWolfensteingames, Nine Inch Nails' sound aesthetic likewise adds a genius quality to the gameplay ofid Software’s original movement shooter Quake. With Black Ops 2, Reznor made one of the most unforgettable main themes in a COD game, a powerful track appearing in the main menu and several missions.
Battlefield 2042may not have been the best game in the series for its lack of campaign and other issues, but you can’t say the same about the soundtrack. The OST was done by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and her husband and collaborator Sam Slater, who previously helped produce her work on HBO’s Chernobyl miniseries and Joker’s chilling score, which won her the Emmy and Oscar.
Other films Hildur has worked on are Women Talking, Tár, A Haunting in Venice, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and Journey’s End. A shooter game like Battlefield is a very different project for Guðnadóttir, but the score is designed seamlessly with harsh and chaotic sounds that capture the frenzy of the fast-paced multiplayer battles.
