The Grammy nominees were announced earlier on Friday for the 2025 Grammy Awards, music’s biggest night as titans of the industry compete for a prestigious award to recognise their talents. In 2023, the first ever ‘Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media’ was given out, and it’s become an annual category to recognise video game soundtracks since. With each round of nominees, there’s a glaring issue that’s becoming increasingly more present.
I watched earlier as the 2025 Grammy nominees were revealed, looking forward to seeing some of the best music from the past year in gaming finally get some official recognition. I felt a bit disappointed when the nominees ended up being Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Star Wars Outlaws, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. Are these bad soundtracks? No, each of them has some excellent music and I don’t want to discredit that, but when you take a broader look at the past years the problem becomes clearer.
Every single nominee in the video game category has been from a conventionally “Western” video game in the last three years, and it’s getting tiring when it keeps happening. 2023’s award was won by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök in competition with the likes of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Call of Duty: Vanguard, whilst 2024’s was won by Star Wars Jedi: Survivor against games such as God of War Ragnarök (yes the word Ragnarök has been nominated in this category three times) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Each perhaps deserving of recognition, but also so similar in their approach to video game soundtrack design.
There’s clearly a type of game the Grammys prefers, but in nominating only Western, mostly AAA and largely conventionally cinematic soundtracks, they completely ignore some of the most universally beloved music within the industry. To put it into perspective, Elden Ring, Final Fantasy, Super Mario, Astro Bot, The Legend of Zelda and Xenoblade Chronicles – all games with some of the best received soundtracks in gaming and had releases in the last three years – have had 0 nominees. Call of Duty has had two, and Ubisoft games have had three!
It seems glaringly obvious that recognition is only being provided to video game soundtracks that fit a certain aesthetic. The very cinematic, Hollywood-style music that, in my opinion, largely sinks into the background of the games they’re part of. To be specific, it’s pretty shocking that no mention has been given in the past three years to any of Japan’s incredible musical output, a country that is largely responsible for some of gaming’s most iconic themes both past and present.
Some noise has been made about these snubs online, with fans of titles such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC calling out their absence from this year’s Grammys given their recognition elsewhere in the industry. At this point though, it feels like pure ignorance rather than simply having too many good choices. Hopefully the Recording Academy will be open to a more inclusive and broader selection of their nominees next time, and I’ll be the first to welcome it. Give Sephiroth his Grammy!
To be fair, there is some discussion to be had on who even decides the nominees, which could explain the snubs. I’ve seen some suggest online you must be a guild member to get nominated, but the Grammys themselves share instructions for any publishing and recording company to apply for a nomination without a membership, meaning theoretically any game could be nominated. Regardless, perhaps the Grammys could be more transparent on this topic in future.
How do you feel about this years Grammy nominees for best video game soundtrack? What games do you think got snubbed? Music is subjective, so all opinions are welcome! Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news and features.
Ridiculous to think games like FF7 Rebirth are being ignored, when in Japanese games you can actually hear the soundtrack. Having played some God of War two days ago, I can tell you I heard the same track about four times in the three opening hours. Nothing else has even come to my notice.
The Grammys were created in the ’50’s as the “anti-rock n roll” awards. Rock was gaining huge traction so the “crooners” & their buddies came up with the Grammys as a way to bring attention back to their music & snub rock. Thus I’ve never paid the least bit of attention to them. That they continue on their narrow-minded course doesn’t surprise me in the least. Disappoint, yes; surprise, no.