Audio is playing a bigger role than ever when it comes to video games-from introducing catchy anthems to influencing listening habits long after gamers log off. Music and video game enthusiasts alike will be able to see this firsthand tonight at The Game Awards as we reveal what gamers listened to most this year on Spotify.
The festivities are a culmination of a year of video game-inspired listening. Gamers around the world have been able to enjoy Spotify-curated playlists for every gaming moment, with playlists like Top Gaming Tracks, Hip Hop Controller, and Soundscapes for Gaming, all gathered in the dedicated Gaming Hub. And earlier this year, we also joined forces with the Esports Summit, one of the biggest gaming events in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as the official audio partner. Spotify's music experts collaborated with gaming professionals to curate the summit's official playlist.
Leading up to tonight's ceremony, Game Awards Creator, Executive Producer, and Host Geoff Keighley launched an insightful podcast called Inside the Game Awards, available exclusively on Spotify. On the show, he welcomed guests including Tina Amini, Editor in Chief of IGN Entertainment, Jeff Gerstmann, founder of the website Giant Bomb, and Keza MacDonald, Video Games Editor at the Guardian, to give an inside look at the nominees, the world premieres, and the music.
For an insider's perspective on the awards, For the Record asked Geoff about his predictions, the role of music in the video game experience, and more.
What are you most looking forward to at The Game Awards? We're really excited to be back in person with a live event. I'm also looking forward to showing fans some of our world premieres, which are a real look at the next generation of gaming.
What prompted you to launch the podcast? What do you hope fans get out of the experience? As a show producer, you always struggle with how to give fans context to the nominees and the show. You see all these amazing games on-screen but why is Resident Evil Village up for Game of the Year? Given the pace of our show, you never really get to explain that to the home viewers. The podcast is a great companion to the show to give listeners more insight into why certain games were nominated and how we build the show.
In another big year for gaming, what's been your 2021 gaming highlight? That may be coming up at The Game Awards. We're doing something really cool with Epic Games and Unreal Engine 5 around The Matrix. It's called The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience. It's something you'll see at the show but actually get to experience alongside the show on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S.
Viewership of the awards grew by 84% last year! Why do you think the ceremony resonates with gamers? We're grateful for the viewership. It reflects the growth of gaming overall, and the global community. I think that's why people tune in: They feel a part of something bigger than themselves and want to join in celebrating games as the most powerful form of entertainment. I really try to produce a show that is celebratory, looking back at the year that was and looking forward to what's next.
The Game Awards orchestra is a big draw for viewers. What musical moments can viewers expect this year? Sting will be performing his incredible song from Arcane, What Could Have Been -and he's doing it with our Game Awards orchestra! We will also have a very special performance from Imagine Dragons, along with some very special guests from the video game world. And, of course, orchestral music will be a big part of the show. Lorne Balfe is back as our musical director and we will be playing LOTS of video game music.
Spotify is sharing what gamers streamed the most this year. How does music impact the gaming experience? Music is such a key part of gaming. It always has been, and we see it with our show. Fans love the live orchestra. I think we all have memories of a key scene or moment in a game that was elevated by music. For me, that moment was Far Away from Jos Gonz les in Red Dead Redemption. It was the perfect song at the perfect moment. In many ways, I wish more artists would write original songs and music for games.
Do you have a favorite gaming track or song? I'm very partial to the theme song from The Secret of Monkey Island. That and the theme song for the adventure game Gabriel Knight! Those are two of my favorites I often listen to on Spotify just for fun.
Why do you think audio is playing a bigger role in gaming and esports? Do you predict this trend will continue? Absolutely, audio is a vital part of the gaming experience-I think we all dream of live audio experiences, like when your radio station in-game is actually updated live in real time with Spotify playlists. That's my dream: To have a live-service audio experience in a game that constantly evolves.
Don't miss tonight's Game Awards with Geoff at 4:30 pm PT / 7:30 pm ET / 12:30 am GMT. Until then, check out Geoff's Wrapped playlist.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Audio is playing a bigger role than ever when it comes to video games-from introducing catchy anthems to influencing listening habits long after gamers log off. Music and video game enthusiasts alike will be able to see this firsthand tonight at The Game Awards as we reveal what gamers listened to most this year on Spotify. 
