music and video games have one thing in common, they are accessible everywhere. Whether on Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, there are many ways to listen to your favorite music in the middle of the game. Streaming apps make this possible and are very popular with gamers. To better understand the importance of music in the video game industry, Spotify France shared some interesting data with us.
Music heard more than ever
To better focus, relax or immerse themselves, gamers listen to music, whether from applications of the likes of Spotify or directly from the games they play. More and more development studios are using composers to create unique sound experiences. A great hit game very often has a good soundtrack.
In these last six months in France and only on Spotify it’s about 52 million hours of music listening consumed par the players, on Discord as well as on Xbox and Playstation. There were 327,497, 10,267,240 and 42,243,111 listening hours on these platforms, respectively. Absolutely pharaonic figures that show how important the gamer community is to music.
French rap in the lead
French rap, which over the years has become the number 1 music genre in our country, is also for gamers. To celebrate the popularity of “rhythm and poetry” (rap), the Spotify France teams organized an evening that related this universe to gaming. Hosted by Aminematue, the event brought together artists Niska, Soso Maness and Dinos, and streamers Squeezie, Billy and Inoxtag. In addition to the live broadcast on Twitch, almost 300 people were able to attend. We were invited there and as a fan of French rap and video games I loved this evening!
Music is expressed and lived in a multitude of territories, of which gaming is one in itself. This event is the perfect illustration of that: bridging two closely connected worlds by bringing together the best of rap and 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 first time rappers have appeared on Twitch. With over a million separate views of Aminematues Live, the excitement for this type of event is real.
Artist Jul perfectly illustrates the power of French rap in gaming. At the same time, it is the most listened to in France on Spotify but also popular with players on the various platforms mentioned above. There are a total of 42,435,020 listening hours. There are also two rappers in second and third place in this ranking: Gazo and Ninho. The latter recorded 29,088,975 and 25,383,045 listening hours. On Xbox, these artists are the most streamed in the same order.
Music, an essential element for development studios
As indicated at the beginning of the article, development studios pay attention to creating an original soundtrack. Some Xbox Game Studios are famous for it. We can think directly of 343 Industries, Ninja Theory or even Bethesda Game Studios. The 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 turned to Curtis Schweitzer, Gareth Coker and Joel Corelitz, artists used to working with video game studios.
On the French side, Asobo Studio stands out from the rest thanks to its licensed OSTs A plague story. By collaborating with Olivier Deriviere, they produced music that was highly appreciated by the players. For example, the track “A Plague Tale Requiem” is listened to 360,406 times per month and “Plague Tale” 1,985,164 times. In addition, the album from the latest adventures of Amicia and Hugo was performed as part of a symphony concert in November 2022.
The famous The Witcher III and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, both GOTY award winners, have two of the most popular video game albums on Spotify. In addition, the streaming application has many playlists, including several pieces of music from games. we can find Video game soundtracks or add top gaming tracks.
FIFA, the perfect mix
EA Sport understood this very well. Music suits video games and vice versa. By creating our own soundtrack and collaborating with well-known artists, FIFA is becoming a reference both in terms of sales and OST. Spotify tells us that more than 21.1 million playlists contain at least one song FIFA 23. Of these, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish users create the most.
As soon as a player starts the game and is in the home menu, he will immediately hear a song. Over the years, the American publisher has maintained its soundtrack, expanding it and mixing several styles of music. Today, in the latest work, a title stands out from the rest and allows us to understand the importance of an effective OST. it is ” Beautiful eyes “Bad Bunny and Bomba Estéreo, with about 853,067,366 monthly plays on Spotify. FIFA therefore goes beyond its own virtual football pitches and invites itself into the music scene by collaborating with renowned artists.
As players seek more unique experiences than the rest, music is their ally. Whether gaming community, development studios, artists or streaming platforms, everyone has recognized that The connection of these two universes increases the emotions and sensations during a game.
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