Music and video games, two inseparable worlds
music and video games they have one thing in common available everywhere. On Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, PC or mobile device, there are many ways to listen to your favorite tunes in the middle of the game. Streaming apps allow this and are very popular among gamers. To better understand the importance of music in the video game industry, Spotify France shared some interesting information with us.
Music is listened to more than ever
To better concentrate, relax or sink, gamers listen to music, either from apps like Spotify or directly from the games they play. More and more development studios are using composers to create unique audio experiences. A big hit game often has a good soundtrack.
During these last six months, in France and only on Spotify, approx 52 million hours of music listening were consumed through players, on Discord, as well as on Xbox and Playstation. There were 327,497, 10,267,240 and 42,243,111 hours of listening on these platforms respectively. Totally pharaonic figures that show the importance the player community places on music.
French rap is the leader
Over the years, French rap, which has become the number 1 music genre in our country, is also for gamers. To celebrate the popularity of “Rhythm and Poetry” (rap), the French Spotify teams organized an evening that connected this universe to the game. Hosted by Aminematue, the event brought together artists Niska, Soso Maness and Dinos, as well as broadcasters Squeezie, Billy and Inoxtag. In addition to being streamed live on Twitch, about 300 people were able to participate on the site. We were invited there and as a fan of French rap and video games I really enjoyed this evening!
Music is expressed and experienced in many areas, of which games are one in itself. This event is a perfect example of that: bridging two closely intertwined worlds by bringing together the best of rap and the best of gaming and creating a moment of IRL and digital entertainment for fans.
Julie Combe, Spotify’s senior marketing manager in France
This isn’t the rappers first appearance on Twitch. With over a million unique views on Aminematue’s live stream, the enthusiasm for this kind of event is real.
Artist Jul perfectly illustrates the performance of French rap in the game. At the same time, the most listened to in France on Spotify, it is also popular among players on the various platforms mentioned above. Listening to them is a total of 42,435,020 hours. In this ranking, two rappers were placed in the second and third places: Gazo and Ninho. The latter recorded 29,088,975 and 25,383,045 hours of listening. On Xbox, these artists are the most streamed in the same order.
Music is an essential element for development studios
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, development studios focus on creating an original soundtrack. Some Xbox Game Studios are famous for this. We can directly think of 343 Industries, Ninja Theory or even Bethesda Game Studios. Halo Infinite OST has millions of streams on Spotify. “Zeta Halo” is one of the most streamed titles with 1,525,954 monthly streams. For this album, Microsoft called on artists Curtis Schweitzer, Gareth Coker and Joel Corelitz who collaborated with video game studios.
On the French side, Asobo Studio stands out thanks to its licensed OSTs The tale of the plague. Working with Olivier Deriviere, they produced music that was much appreciated by the players. For example, the title “Plague Tale Requiem” is listened to 360,406 times per month, and for “Plague Tale” 1,985,164 times. Additionally, an album of Amicia and Hugo’s latest adventures was performed as part of a symphony concert in November 2022.
Famous The Witcher III and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, both GOTY award winners have the two most popular video game albums on Spotify. Plus, the streaming app has tons of playlists, including several tracks from the game. We can find Video Game Soundtracks or Best Game Tracks.
FIFA, the perfect mix
EA Sport understood this very well. Music goes with video games and vice versa. By creating his own music and collaborating with well-known artists, FIFA is becoming a reference both in terms of sales and OST. Spotify tells us that over 21.1 million playlists include at least one song FIFA 23. Most of them are created by users from Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
As soon as the player starts the game and is in the main menu, he directly hears the song. Over the years, an American publisher took interest in his soundtrack, expanding it and mixing several musical styles. Today in the latest work, one title stands out from the rest and makes you understand the importance of an effective OST. This “Ojitos Lindos”Bad Bunny and Bomba Estéreo, with more 853,067,366 monthly plays on Spotify. FIFA therefore goes beyond its virtual football fields and invites itself to the music scene by collaborating with famous artists.
As gamers seek out more unique experiences than each other, music is their ally. Be it the gaming community, development studios, artists, or streaming platforms, everyone understands that The connection of these two universes enhances the emotions and feelings during the game.
