First gaming Grammy award goes to Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed Valhalla was the first game to win the award in the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media.

The award recognises the impact of music written specifically for video games. It is a sister category to the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. It was first announced on the 9th of June 2022 along with four additional new categories. Previously only three video games had ever been nominated at the Grammy Awards. Many composers and studios campaigned for the Recording Academy to recognise the medium for many years.

The nominees

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok by Stephanie Economou

Aliens: Fireteam Elite by Austin Wintory

Call of Duty Vanguard by Bear McCreary

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy by Richard Jacques

Old World by Christopher Tin

Watch the acceptance speech where Stephanie Economou thanks all the people who fought for the category to be included in the Grammy Awards.

If you were left wondering, the first piece of music from a video game to every be nominated and win a Grammy Award in any category was Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin from the game Civilization IV. It won in the category Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).

The second was Austin Wintory's score for Journey which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.

The third was for Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman's cover of Meta Knight's Revenge for the game Kirby Super Star. They won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella.