Music is one of the core elements in every video game, being a core component in how the player feels, signifying changes in tone or environment and increasing immersion. Music in games differs to music in other forms of media as it is adaptive, being entirely based on the choices of the player. This could be in a cutscene from a story driven single player experience or to build tension at the end of a round in a multiplayer shooter game. With the rapidly growing state of the video game industry, composing for games is starting to feel like a viable option for a reliable career in the music industry. “In 2024, the revenue from the worldwide gaming market was estimated at almost 455 billion U.S. dollars…” (Clement, 2024). The games industry is an interesting career path for me as it can allow me to compose a wider variety of music compared to for example film music, which includes a lot of underscore and generic or simple music.
While not completely necessary, a music or composition degree will undoubtedly help develop the skills needed for composition like orchestration, music technology, a good understanding of music theory and experience in the industry. Other completely viable options include online courses and self-teaching through online research as there is a plethora of resources available just on YouTube alone, for example the channel ‘8-bit music theory’ has over 200 videos breaking down video game music analytically. Being educated about using a DAW efficiently is also very important for making game music on top of being trained musically. My research into several games composers of various levels such as Christopher Larkin, Lena Raine and Yuka Kitamura showed that most studied some sort of music before they composed professionally indicating that proper education in music will give you the professional abilities needed in this job. For example, Christopher Larkin started writing music in his early teens then attended the Elder Conservatorium of music in Adelaide (Larkin, n.d.) gaining the skills required to be recognised by many major awards entities, like being nominated at The Game Awards (The Game Awards, 2025). Experience is also required however, which is usually achieved by building a portfolio scoring student or indie games or films. A high-quality portfolio is the best chance of getting work composing as it shows your style and the game designer/studio can see for themselves whether you are a good fit for their game. Other ways to get experience include voluntary or assistant work at larger companies or studios. Starting in this industry self-employed, networking skills are crucial for finding work, even with a degree in music, meaning both skills should be used alongside each other for the best chance at a career. The best way to network as a composer is through going to in person events and online communities like reddit. Studying music at university will also help with networking as you will be introduced to lots of new people.
Like all composers, a video game composer should have a large knowledge of music theory, for example harmony skills, determining which chord or chord sequence fits best to convey the required emotion, and being able to arrange and orchestrate, creating professional and instrumentally interesting music (Phillips, 2014). Video game composers should also have the ability to write according to the genre and tone of what’s presented to them, requiring an understanding of different genres and styles. Technology also plays just as big of a part, needing to be able to use a DAW efficiently as well as using middleware like FMOD to link audio to the game and make it interactive (Robinson, 2019). How game music differs from film and tv music is the adaptivity aspect, reacting to changes in environment, or smaller things like the player being low on health or the transition from gameplay to a cutscene (Hutchings and McCormack, 2019). Adaptivity is difficult as it presents ideas of non-linear structures and techniques like horizontal re-sequencing which involves arranging the music to match the players actions and vertical re-orchestration which is the action of changing the instrumentation to respond to the gameplay (Type, 2023). Video game music also gives the most creative freedom out of all media, “you are given an idea, a story, a scenario, and you need to describe it with your music. It is the closest technique to ‘free composing’…” (Zur, 2002). An underlooked aspect of video game composition is the ability to work well with others and respond to feedback as well as being able to work within a time limit, often being given short deadlines to react to.
As well as obviously composing music, a game composer should spend time researching different music, playing video games and meeting and collaborating with different people (GDC Vault, 2017). When not working to a brief, generally just composing music with no purpose is a great way to practice and come up with interesting ideas to potentially use in the future. When actually composing for a game, you should spend your time working to the brief, using your research of the genre to create tonally relevant but original music. You should focus on making your music loopable, as well as making sure each piece of music transitions seamlessly into another. Writing variations of your music to adapt to what the player is doing and writing short stings are also a crucial part of the process. Feedback is a huge part of writing music for a video game, so you’ll be spending a lot of time responding to feedback from the game director and changing your music to fit their vision. You will also be working collaboratively with people like sound designers and mixers to help get the music and sound integrated into the game together and to make sure they don’t clash (Phillips, 2021). The later stages in the process will include lots trial and error, testing if the music works correctly within the engine and testing if the music actually fits the gameplay or cutscene presented. Tasks that are often overlooked are mundane, non-creative things like writing emails, organising files and exporting which can take up a lot of time. As a games composer there is no set task that you would do every day, it depends on how far in the process you are and how tight the deadline is. Sometimes you may be asked to several challenging tasks in one day while other days you might spend focused on perfecting one specific thing.
Most video game composers, particularly at the start of their career are self-employed, composing as freelancers, often resulting in an unstable income (Berklee, n.d.), so most composers at this stage should have another source of income outside of composing. As finding work strictly doing composition is difficult, it is common for a composer to freelance other game music related jobs, “as an orchestrator, copyist, session conductor, or session musician” (Berklee, n.d.), or doing sound and audio design. As you progress however, working for a company is quite likely with more than 6 in 10 people working in game audio being employees of companies (Schmidt, 2025). The average income for both freelance and salaried employees has increased in the last few years, the average salary per year of a games composer in the uk being £53,376. Self-employed composers are usually paid per minute of music with the average rate for a AAA game being $1871/minute (Schmidt, 2025). Regarding copyright with a freelance composer, either the composer owns the rights to the music or is under a Work for Hire agreement in which it belongs to the developer or publisher. As the budget of the game increases, so does the amount of work for hire composers with 97% of AAA composers working for hire compared to 59% of indie composers (Schmidt, 2025). A contract should state the ownership, money, time limit and usage rights (Schmidt, 2025). Contracts should be clear and honest to prevent disagreements and unpaid work and freelancing composers should have a basic knowledge of law for this reason.
Composing for video games comes with unique challenges, being one of the most ambiguous forms of media composition. A specific challenge for game music is making music that must fit in various contexts, for example action, exploration and menu themes, while keeping it thematically consistent (Aszan, 2025). The music also needs to work with the sound design, adapt to the players actions, and transition into other pieces of music, requiring proficiency in fmod or wwise. Along with most media composition jobs, video game composers also have to work under tight deadlines, the average being around 1-2 months (Phillips, 2021) to conceptualise, compose, orchestrate, record and implement (Vicky, 2025). Deadlines make work/life balance very inconsistent as for a month straight you may work all day every day in order to get everything done, which can often lead to burnout, then as soon as its done be completely free. Often in indie or low budget games, recording for example a whole orchestra, is not possible, so composers should either compose on a smaller scale with fewer instruments to record or use VSTs and digital sounds in their music.
Marketing is important for freelancing composers as you need to promote yourself as much as possible to be seen by potential employers. This is usually achieved with a portfolio of high-quality video game music showcasing proficiency in a variety of styles and understanding of the medium. The purpose of a portfolio is so the people thinking of hiring you know if you are the best fit for their game, so its best to but your strengths at the forefront of it to let them know what specifically you specialise in as well as showing an ability to write good music in a range of genres (Raksha, 2025). Networking is also an important marketing tool, going to in-person person events to meet people in the industry and spreading your name on social media will help with getting opportunities in the future. Its helpful to maintain an online presence, posting regularly to platforms like TikTok and Instagram to keep your name in people’s brains and so people that discover you know how much effort you put in. Marketing skills are necessary for a self-employed composer to begin and progress a career in the industry.
Starting out your career as a composer, you should first make sure you have the necessary skills in composition and technology to produce high quality results when you start to compose for games. Your first work is usually on a student or indie game, or doing other jobs like orchestration, sound design and copying, while making sure to get your name out there and getting a reputation of being reliable and hard-working. If this is successful, and people in this industry recognise you for your skill, there is a chance to progress to larger or even AAA projects and working with studios which allows for professional growth in areas such as collaboration, and thinking creatively (ELVTR, 2025). Those at the very top will see themselves as lead composer for a multitude of popular video games and even branch out into other jobs like sound design or composing for film, tv or adverts. To progress this far, you would need to be easy to work with, communicative and obviously creatively talented, while keeping up with new technology and changes in the industry. Being a video game composer professionally combines creativity, technology, communication and business as being able to manage yourself is just as important as musical knowledge. Music for media is a competitive industry, meaning marketing and promotion online and person skills are also necessary. A career in video game music is often unpredictable, with a range of potential opportunities, often starting with composing for student or indie games or being an assistant, orchestrator, copyist or sound designer to help develop the skills to progress further. Understanding the reality of how difficult it is to get into this industry and finding which skills are the most important to spend time developing greatly helps your chances of success as a video game composer.
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