This Substack is a part-retrospective, part-quirkology analysis for all of the music & gaming outcomes I wanted to engineer prior to the get go.

I’ve been a fan of Supermassive Games for years, and having the chance to work with the team has been a really big moment for me personally. Big shout out to Barney and James from the Supermassive team for bringing me in, and to everyone at Feel For Music for the ace support as always.

Here’s to soundtracking my first true game credit: Directive 8020.

1. The Dark Pictures Anthology & Directive 8020?

2. Task: What Would The Crew Listen To?

3. Kenny’s Easter Eggs

4. Going ‘Voyager 1’ with Blood Red Shoes

1. The Dark Pictures Anthology & Directive 8020

For people familiar with Supermassive Games and The Dark Pictures Anthology, Directive 8020 continues the studio’s signature style of cinematic, choice-driven horror storytelling. These games are largely choice led, with every decision having knock-on effects, leading to multiple endings, hidden paths, secrets and dramatically different outcomes. Everyone can die, by the way.

Directive 8020 follows on from big hits like Until Dawn (One of the highest selling PS4 games) and The Quarry.

Directive 8020 is set aboard the colony ship Cassiopeia, the story follows a crew searching for a new home for humanity after Earth’s decline. After awakening from hypersleep, they discover an alien organism capable of perfectly imitating human beings has infiltrated the ship, turning paranoia, distrust and identity into the core threat of the experience. The rabbit hole gets much deeper…

This time, the formula introduces more stealth gameplay alongside a new ‘Turning Points’ system, allowing players to revisit major choices and see how many alternate routes branch from that moment without fully revealing them upfront.

Here’s one of the lead trailers that we sourced the music for:

2. Task: ‘What Would The Crew Listen To?’

The directive for Directive 8020 was fairly straightforward in its nature, but the execution required lots of attention to detail.

There are spots across the game where Supermassive wanted to use music in a purposeful way. Music was used to bring the crew members to life, with selections that the crew may well have brought with them on this mission used across the game. The aim was to create authenticity, empathy for the crew, and to make everyone feel trustworthy to make those decisions a little harder…

Pragmatically, I tend to create a framework/taxonomy of where the music is upon its request quite literally first, before going into the tin-foil hat theories of how it all connects. There was a mixture of in-scene moments (According to my own taxonomy - Main Music), some end of chapter ‘pit stops’, similar to Resident Evil’s save room aesthetic, purely made to reduce heart rates down from 200bpm (Optional Music) and to consider all the above for marketing uses too (Advertising Music), amongst other inspiration I’ve had from previous studies of cool techniques I’ve seen.

Here’s a fireside chat between myself and Barney Pratt from Supermassive we did for UKIE, talking all about the inner workings for this game. For a deep dive, check it out. Spoilers in here!

3. Kenny’s Easter Eggs

The above UKIE covers all the practical detail for inclusion, scenes, licensing etc. but I wanted to mention a few things in my mind at the time, so I’m using this Substack as a way to remember it all.

• Check out the lyrics for all of the tracks. One of the main aims was to believe the music is just music upon first playthrough, but to have a completely different perspective on the music once you’ve played it through. Just like the games, the soundtrack is also replayable with different perspectives before and after a playthrough. We wanted all the lyrics to be foretelling. Mikky Ekko’s opening is a good start.

• ‘Do You Know?’ was commissioned and briefed in a 1 min 37 sec voice note I sent to Tess Obscura. Minimal edits!

• One of the original aesthetic options I proposed was going for a ‘90s Trip Hop aesthetic, including I Monster’s ‘Daydream In Blue’ or Olive’s ‘You’re Not Alone’, given my prediction for its cultural return.

• During a scene with a distress beacon (you’ll know it…) there is a pretty big needledrop here for Portishead - ‘Roads’. This purposefully moves away from the ‘musical palette’ of the game. My belief here is that what you learn during this scene is (imo) a completely different storyline, and therefore required a completely different soundtrack. This does not fit on purpose. It comes and it goes away, and leaves a mark on the finer details for the rest of the game.

• One of my desired outcomes was the music to be discovered by the fans rather than front and center of the game. My metaphor here is that the stereo used to be the main entertainment feature of the living room 50 years ago, then the TV took over, and slowly we put a games console underneath it. The stereo is still in the room, but there’s a time and a place when it’s on. I wanted the soundtracks thought and attention to slowly creep up to long time fans of the Supermassive series for its under-the-nose espionage. After spotting Reddit forums like ‘The Music of Directive 8020 tells you the twists and ’Can we all agree directive 8020 had a fire ass soundtrack?’ I can consider that a success.

• I know I’ve written quite a bit about deeper, innovative types of inclusions when it comes to expressing music in a game. Directive 8020’s in-scenes and end of chapter moments are not necessarily groundbreaking utilisation methods, but they were mutually agreed foundational elements that fulfilled the purpose. Getting to the agreed aim is the number one most important role of a supervisor in my opinion.

4. Going ‘Voyager 1’ with Blood Red Shoes

As explored in the 2.5 years of this Substack, music and gaming collaborations are built to pierce beyond a games traditional medium and exist in many more ways. So how can we do that here?

After Supermassive’s team suggested Blood Red Shoes, I got on the phone to them to make friends. After chatting with them more and more, their approach was excellent - despite being self confessed non-gamers, they were interested in the medium and aware that some of their fans knew the series, and they were keen to trust us, lean in and learn more about this world. I knew their album ‘Ghost On Tape’ had such a strong aesthetic that matched with what we were trying to build, that I wanted to occupy the space a bit more with tracks from this album.

Going beyond even further, I asked them if they had any additional unreleased recordings from this album that they would be interested in suggesting for this game. Lo and behold, they had one unreleased, incomplete track. When we had a listen and shared this with the Supermassive team, we all knew that it was an instant banger. Blood Red Shoes finally finished this track with lyrical inspiration from Directive 8020’s story.

As mentioned above, ‘COMPLY’ felt perfect for this game both from a dynamic trailer perspective but also aesthetically and on theme. A trailer is a ‘keyhole’ to the game, and I think this was spot on. A short while after the game release, we created an official music video using footage from the game for Blood Red Shoes too:

Lastly, Steven messaged me while I was on a family trip to the Canaries not long pre-launch. It was along the lines of ‘How can we play the game?’ - an excellent point. Between nap-trapping duties I sent a note over to the Supermassive team to see if they would be happy for Blood Red Shoes to come over to play at the offices which they gladly accepted.

After over a year of hard work, was nice to have a proper debrief with everyone in the same room playing through the game!

Without pushing at all, we got a few articles from music publications including NME and Radio Times publications referencing Blood Red Shoes involvement with this game. Given the plan was to creep this into the hands of the true Supermassive fans, this was an additional win too.

Outside of the publications, a real win was with the fans of Blood Red Shoes. Steven and Laura were telling me that they’ve got lots of messages of fans of theirs who also loved the Dark Pictures series too. I wrote about noticing this crossover in a previous post titled Gamemotifs.

Without over-optimising, there have been stronger connections made for the game as well as the artist through this crossover and it makes sense to go as far as we could with. I’m proud to have worked on that, but also interested to see what the results of a subtle-sleeper hit style music approach is for the Supermassive fans (Who I know love the deeper lore) as the game matures within the catalogue. Hopefully this depth of consideration and curation is seen as a love letter to the Dark Pictures fans, giving them a replayable soundtrack that is different before and after playing the game - very Supermassive, I’d say.

TLDR

Music supervised Directive 8020 with an empathy-creating, authentic soundtrack that the space crew would have genuinely brought with them. This soundtrack is designed with 2 features in mind:

1. To have foretelling lyrics, enabling an entirely different perspective upon a post-game replay.

2. To be modest in its in-game positioning, so the true fans can discover and enjoy its curation.

Proud of my first credit, and love that it is with the legendary Supermassive team <3 Here’s a screenshot of credits, and an image from after all the licensing one of their influencer events. It’s real, I promise!

By the way, totally aware of Cassette Beasts 2002 dropping last night during PC Gaming Show, but this Substack is about the original Cassette Beasts game.

1. What Is Cassette Beasts?

2. Music Mechanics

3. Fusion: Boss Music On Demand

4. Scaling the ‘Full Mix Payoff’

5. Honourable Mention

1. What Is Cassette Beasts?

Cassette Beasts is a 2023 indie monster-collecting role playing game (RPG) set on the seemingly normal island of New Wirral, where players use cassette tapes to transform into creatures and battle other monsters. Clearly inspired by classic Pokémon games, it takes the primary gameplay mechanics and boasts some serious quality of life features that I only wished we had back in the days of me pulling a sicky to binge complete Pokémon Yellow.

The game initially stands out for its stylish late 80s aesthetic and open-world exploration, but gradually draws you in further with its deep, impactful story. You uncover the secrets of the island while finding a way home…and make a few helpful friends along the way.

Of course, I’m here writing about its strong emphasis on music, featuring a killer indie-rock inspired soundtrack created by Joel Baylis and vocalist Shelby Harvey. Music is a strong sonic detailer of the environment here, deep enough that each character has their own aesthetic & creative preferences reflected in the theme of their song when they are featured in their story arc.

Cassette Beasts has sold over 1.1 million units, boasts an Overwhelmingly Positive Review (95%) on Steam and has been put forward for a number of awards, notably nominated for 2024’s Best British Game and the Steam’s Labour Of Love Award. I believe the considered standout features of this game have been pivotal to bringing Cassette Beasts to this level of pedigree, in particular its use of music.

So, how did they do it?

2. Music Mechanics

Music is detailed in the very fabric of the game, from the names of the stickers (a ‘move’) that you can put on your cassette (your ‘creature’ you summon during battles) making any creature have a hugely varied moveset that you can change anytime. Yes that’s right - Screw you TMs and HMs.

The dynamic music mechanic behind this is so simple but something that I thought was very cool.

You always battle in pairs, one creature is yours, while another is assigned to your partner (you have a handful of friends to choose from that all have their different storylines too). However, there is an ability to use ‘Fusion’ where both of your tapes merge to create a new combined beast, with both sets of abilities but a unique design. The base game has 120 original creatures, and therefore over 14,000 possible fusion combinations! Anyway, back to the music.

Also when you fuse, the music changes. There are a handful of songs that play during combat depending on the location or what type of combat it is, and these are always instrumentals. But when you fuse, the vocal stems enter the mix, amplifying the impact of the track. And it seriously slaps. You know full well that when things are getting heated you’ll keep the fusion ability in your back pocket - for all you ULT hoarders out there. You’re rewarded by turning the tide in combat with an extra powerful beast with the music coming in full force.

That type of experience is a surprisingly simple way of picking up energy by mapping a vocal stem to a situation in combat, but given the context it works incredibly well and turns any battle into your own adrenaline-filled story.

I’m going to name this technique (the reservation and use of the complete version of a track for maximal effect) the ‘Full Mix Payoff’. I think this technique has played a key part in the commercial streaming success of the music , with the combat tracks appearing to outperform much of the wider OST. More importantly, it demonstrates how music can contribute to the wider success of a game. By tying memorable moments to memorable songs, Cassette Beasts strengthens both the gameplay experience and the soundtrack's ability to live beyond the game itself.

3. Fusion: Boss Music On Demand

Boss music is one of gaming’s most reliable tools for creating significance, and Cassette Beasts gives players access to that significance whenever they choose to escalate a fight using fusion, where music is leading that feeling.

The best boss themes are contextually memorable and deliver the feeling they were designed to. Without giving too many of my aspirational future substacks away, one example is (Spoiler Warning) Sonic Adventure 2 Battle with Crush40’s Live & Learn. They did a very similar thing where the main song was used as the menu music and across some scenes, but the lyrical version of this song was exclusively reserved for the final battle only. When that moment happened, I remember being on my feet, ready to throw hands IRL immediately - and it was because of exactly this technique.

Ultimately, we know when a moment requires a different shape of music. And where Pokémon did it well with their selective themes, Cassette Beasts enables you to summon that feeling whenever you need it.

4. Scaling the ‘Full Mix Payoff’

For a lean development team of 3, with one man running the audio show, finding a simple way to scale features like this is important. There are two factors that affect music feature scalability in Cassette Beasts: The Full Mix Payoff, and the amount of tracks per type of encounter.

Cassette Beasts OST looks, feels and runs like an album. This means they had to find a way to use the tracks to their advantage, rather than the naturally highly customisable adaptive music that would have not done this justice. In a way, the early Pokémon games had such strong sonic identities for each area and battle type that it also felt like it was a giant OST.

Bear in mind, they didn’t use any AI to create the 14,000 fusion designs. So how could the music be scaled sustainably for other games wanting to do something similar?

As with Type of encounter, this gets slightly more complicated as you would need to have more original tracks per type of encounter. Tracks can be written to detail more nuanced locations, moments in the story like a cutscene-style fight or types of relationships you have with certain encounters.

However, the easiest solution is to expand how the Full Mix Payoff triggers. Instead of just using vocals, you could use other elements of stems to describe more factors such as how low your HP is, combo accelerators or even additional stems for element types. It’s likely this has been done in many ways before, so if you've seen this technique somewhere else, I'd love to hear about more Full Mix Payoffs.

5. Honourable Mention

This Substack was very nearly in my ‘Needledrop’ series but there are way too many bangers to choose just one. I do, however, want to point to one piece of interesting Cassette Beasts Lore - Meredith’s lost vinyl. This is a Smiths-style secret track you unlock if you spend more time with one of the characters. You KNOW I love secret achievable music like this.

TLDR:

Cassette Beasts is the millennial Pokémon-style game we all wish we had. During combat, a technique called ‘Fusion’ unlocks the vocal layer of the soundtrack, amplifying the impact of the battle theme. I call this the Full Mix Payoff - saving the complete version of a track until the moment it matters most. It's a small detail, but one that demonstrates how carefully music was considered as part of the experience, and why the game's critical success feels thoroughly earned.

Roll on Cassette Beasts 2002!

Anyway. Mixtape is an OST-driven narrative game that’s just released a week ago and I think it’s going to set expectations for gaming and music integrations to some extent. It also seems to have a growing amount of discussion, so I think it’s worth me putting in my betting accumulator at this point to what comes next.

1. What is Mixtape?

2. Video Killed The Radio Star

3. The Perspective Of Music

4. Six Potential Outcomes

5. A Fix For The Gamers

1. What Is Mixtape?

Mixtape is a short narrative adventure experience built around leveraging three key features: commercial music, nostalgia and stylised interactive sequences. Structurally, it sits somewhere between games like Life Is Strange, Road 96 and What Remains of Edith Finch, and many others that operate in these narrative-heavy spaces.

It follows three teenage friends on what appears to be their final night together before life pulls them apart. The main protagonist has aspirations of being a music supervisor (which tugs at my heartstrings given that’s what I actually do now).

The game was released by Annapurna, who I have a soft spot for as they have supported incredible games such as Outer Wilds, Stray and Cocoon.

After setting a strong impression I gave it a playthrough. I came away feeling that Mixtape is closer to interactive cinema than a traditional game.

The story is good, but plenty of games have good stories. The soundtrack is the real standout to me. Across the roughly 3 hour runtime, there is not very much interactivity/gameplay/player agency that I struggled to firmly classify it as a ‘video game’ in the traditional sense.

Despite this, the review scores have been incredibly strong.

That contradiction is the key theme I want to explore throughout this article.

2. Video Killed The Radio Star

Why did Annapurna decide to launch a game that’s not really a game?

I think, amongst many reasons, it’s because it is a great business strategy.

I’ve heard justifications from gaming industry folk about price for play time being a cost-benefit ratio that I had never actually formally said out loud until I worked in my current gaming adjacent role. Comparisons to films costing lots to see at the cinema for only 1 to 2 hours of entertainment when stood next to replayable games suggest that games are more cost effective entertainment. Regardless of any factoids like this, I think it’s still a business related consideration.

A Netflix data report said that 10% of shows generate 71% of the watch time. That statistic raises the idea that 90% of shows are battling for just 29% of the watch time. How many shows get rewatched? Seriously - how many incredible series have you not rewatched? Or are still on your ‘list’? So when Annapurna charges £15 for 3 hours of entertainment - that’s fairly legitimate in both camps.

As a game, Mixtape immediately enters a less crowded prestige category. Where great stories exist in both worlds in abundance, few ‘indie’ games can compete at this level of licensed soundtrack curation, which allows the game to position itself closer to ‘best in class’ by default (Back again with the ill behaviour)

Behaviourally, please check out the concept of ‘second screen’ for your daily dose of dystopian future of humanity. ‘Second Screen’ is the idea that Netflix are asking shows to repeat key narrative themes consistently to remind viewers, who are distracted by their mobile phone, what is going on in the show. My thinking is that if you’re holding a controller and occasionally pressing a button, you’re not distracted.

Mixtape’s design may well be the future of entertainment, but for now, Annapurna is making hay. If successful Netflix shows rely on critical acclaim and partially attentive viewers, how do you properly get someone to engage with your product? Maybe it’s by giving them a controller. I sure hope ads don’t become interactive either…

I am aware of some of the controversy around this game so far, but I’m not so sure it’s worthy of significant commentary, and it also doesn’t change my point. Onwards.

3. The Perspective Of Music

Mixtape stands out to me because it has access to a calibre of soundtrack that most ‘indie’ games are unlikely to access or haven’t previously prioritised in the same way, but the more interesting observation is beyond the soundtrack itself - it’s what the soundtrack is doing to the perception of the game.

Most AAA games have the budget for licensed music, but rarely structure themselves around music in this emotionally curated way. Meanwhile, most narrative-heavy indie games may have the artistic sensitivity for it, but not the financial access. Mixtape sits in the middle ground where it has (or has focused on) both.

The review scores have genuinely surprised me for what is effectively a short, rail-roaded narrative experience with limited player influence, but I think that proves the point that the music itself is part of the artistic leverage which has definitely been used to market this game.

Film has understood this for decades. Carefully selected commercial music can elevate the perceived cultural and quality perception of media. Mixtape’s critical acclaim of its soundtrack will sell the idea to indie game stakeholders that music = success, because for Mixtape, it is true.

It has a great story, but other games have amazing stories…But what ‘indie’ game has a soundtrack like this?

The critical acclaim of Mixtape will be helpful for proving value for music in games going forward, so well done Annapurna.

4. Six Potential Outcomes

I think the critical scoring of Mixtape is amazing for music in gaming as a whole, regardless of the mixed feelings about it. Regardless, Mixtape is now out, and I’m interested in what comes from this. I could make a few assumptions about what’s going to happen given its currently successful marketing campaign.

1. It will be referenced when deciding the ‘value’ of music in gaming. After the bloodbath of the last few difficult years in games (and entertainment as a whole), there may be a stronger requirement to bring financial heads into creative decisions for games. (Rory Sutherland made interesting commentary on what happens here, even though we know this is an economic by-product). It is clear that using music as a leveraging tool for marketing works. Even if the sales are not great, the reviews last forever, and can be the nectar to lure in anything from investment to clients.

2. Mixtape 2 (or any derivatives) may inspire more ways to use music in games. I’m a big fan of cool music integration and deeply considered, culturally conscious choices. The next step for Mixtape 2 (or directly inspired-by-Mixtape’s-genre games) goes beyond music-themed mini games and into needle drops that are even more interactive and unique. Commercial music certainly has a place and doesn’t need to be so on-the-nose about how music = nostalgia. Regardless, Mixtape could inspire new integration types for games to transcend this pipeline.

3. Mixtape could be a gateway to indie game experiences, including indie music. Mixtape contains some pretty cool artistic, ripomatic-style collages inside of what seems like a cliche narrative experience. It’s like a Trojan horse for left-field games and potentially an entry point for indie experiences. I do think that players completing this short experience would likely move onto others like Road 96, What Remains of Edith Finch and Keep Driving.

   

4. Music opportunities beyond 90s nostalgia. For Mixtape, music is the core identity of the game. Its critical success suggests that there is room for games to occupy alternative aesthetics and eras in similar ways. For example, imagine a narrative game about 70s rock and roll, or 2000s boy bands, or 2005 RnB. These are now goldmine opportunities that don’t need to be lore-accurate, but do need to collect a unified track listing that captures that separate identity / aesthetic.

5. Commercial music is possible to put into indie games. Being a music supervisor, I know this is possible in many shapes and forms, but the know-how is hidden in the complexity of music rights and trusted relationships. Because of this, many stereotypes exist about how hard or expensive it is. I’d always suggest going through a supervisor as either a game dev or a music label - it’s faster, more cost effective, more choices, has more accurate results to the vision of the game, and less arguments about two completely different industries often don’t understand each other. The big hits are usually more expensive, but as a game you have the privilege of curating what your players can experience, which easily could be your cool deep spotify playlist, which could be a relatively affordable aesthetic cheat code. Regardless, I understand the game dev concerns about commercial music, but this success story could kickstart a fresh perspective of worthwhile investigation.

6. Modern media like this will become more common. Well look at Dispatch’s success, and even Life Is Strange going over to Amazon. Netflix have dunked around $2 Billion into bringing gaming onto their platform. Roughly 25% of all blockbuster films made in 2026 are about video games. Unifying these genres in parallel is a clear strategy for bringing entertainment under one fee, and Annapurna made this clear a while back that this is their direction. I think we are close to popular culture accepting mediums that cross over into their familiar and preferred platforms, and therefore narrative experiences that prioritise music in this way are ticking lots of boxes for the widest audience. How this will manifest will be continuous, but I don’t think we are far from this new genre leading the way into full acceptance within modern media, and potentially being another golden key for video games.

5. A Fix For The Gamers

The diehard gamers probably won’t accept Mixtape as a proper ‘game’, and push back if it occupies gaming award categories. I think it’s best to see this as a different category that has newly emerged, with its own market that has crossovers with both sides.

I’d define a game as an experience that is interactive and/or malleable. As a gamer, I want to know that there’s either a challenge or a choice. Given many of Mixtape’s ‘mini-games’ don’t require input to complete, or affect the outcome of the game, I understand the resistance to categorising this as a game.

If it’s not clear, this substack is designed to focus on the potential new directions and inspirations coming from Mixtape regardless of what it is…

…Imagine some key scenes had a choice. The first track on the Mixtape was a choice of three, for example. Then your choices after dictated which tracks were accessible. By the end of your Mixtape playthrough, you had your very own unique mixtape made from the licensed tracklisting available. The needledrops still stayed with certain scenes, but everyone could use Mixtape as a way to reflect their identity through the game and share common moments with others, rather than revelling in a pipeline spectacle. Perhaps succeeding difficult challenges awards bonus tracks too.

Your first Mixtape could define you like your first starting Pokemon did.

Mixtape: Remixed DLC?

TLDR

I believe Mixtape will become an example, irrespective of the differing opinion of gameplay, where licensed music elevates the profile of a game.

I also believe Rockstar started Hantavirus so that everyone is furloughed for the GTA 6 launch…Adding that one to the accumulator too.

From the stories behind the creation of game music, I get the sense that cultural influence is connected. I think the modern day artist/composer/game developers are aware of this, and perhaps may place focus in creative direction they feel are ‘optimal’, when in fact they may be being misled.

I’d like to put forward the idea that clarity of identity may be a better goal than unconditional originality when it comes to creating, curating or partnering music inside game adjacent spaces…by using PS1-era jungle and drum & bass menu music as my proof of concept, obviously.

1. The TikTok Trigger

2. Ape Escape’s general vibe

3. Trends aren’t that random really

4. Clarity > Originality

5. Notable Mention

1. The TikTok Trigger

I’m having a pleasant scroll through TikTok trying to turn my brain off for a bit where I come across this video:

@bryanlostdazoneMaybe im just a sucker for Drum n Bass/Jungle but the PS1 OST era for music was peak #ps1 #dnb #ps1jungle #playstation #videogamemusic

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I politely commented saying ‘this is the start of an incredible series’ because it damn well is. This person has identified the fact that PS1 jungle menu music standards and taste palate was just so recognisable, iconic and defining across the entire gaming genre and yet still has its standouts.

The fact that so many games have this similar musical aesthetic that is definitive of its era rather than a handful of games suggests to me there was a cultural trend influencing many of the games at the time.

There were hardly any tracks that didn’t slap. Here’s a killer mix with some absolute chewns for you. Don’t say I don’t think about you!

2. Ape Escape’s general vibe

One of the most defining OSTs of this time, and the example for what I’m getting at is the backstory behind the music for Ape Escape.

The music has been sampled amongst many breakbeat PS1 mixes , and I can confirm this with anecdotal experience of far too many hours hyper fixating to these playlists.

Some would say this was just right place, right time, but there were multiple things happening at once which pushed lots of people towards a similar aesthetic. The PS1 sound chip gave developers far more room to experiment musically through CD quality audio and more complex samples, just as house was mutating into breakbeat, jungle and drum & bass across the early 90s.

At the same time, UK drum & bass artists were touring Japan more regularly, club culture was spreading, and Japanese electronic artists were being exposed to these sounds firsthand.

Soichi Terada was one of them. After spending the late 80s and early 90s making house music and co-founding Far East Recording, he became fascinated by jungle and drum & bass and ended up making the iconic ‘Sumo Jungle’ EP in 1995. According to Terada, the director of Ape Escape heard Sumo Jungle and offered him the soundtrack job because of it (Soichi was also a Playstation player already).

I’d say this story behind Ape Escape is not so isolated, and suggests you don’t need to buck a trend to stand out, but you can still have a strong identity amongst a cultural audio aesthetic.

You know I love a comment section dive. I see that discovery is two way. Ape Escape opening the door to DnB for a whole generation. Many examples of two-way discovery exist:

I quite like this existential realisation below as well. Are music discovery platforms like YouTube connecting the dots between music or gaming pipeline discovery?

3. Trends aren’t that random really

I suppose my point across this Substack is the idea that everything is connected. In order for this wave of PS1 music to exist - culture, technology and authentic movements of music arrived at a point which everyone was exposed to.

What is interesting is that both Soichi Terada and the Ape Escape team had been influenced by the same wider cultural movement independently. It was two different industries arriving at a similar vision through the same influences, made available by technology arriving at this point too. That is very much the power of cultural trends, and Ape Escape is revered for its soundtrack despite it not being the first to champion this audio aesthetic (look at Wipeout and Ridge Racer for earlier examples).

There are broader theories that cultural trends move in cycles rather than appearing randomly. Guy Zapoleon’s Music Cycle theory argues that music swings between more mainstream, accessible phases and more niche or extreme phases roughly every decade. When one sound becomes too dominant, audiences eventually look for something more authentic, or fresher. This supports the idea that certain periods in games feel so musically distinct.

PS1-era jungle and drum & bass was part of a wider cultural movement where that sound was already growing in clubs, radio, touring circuits and youth culture. Games simply became one of the places where that movement found another home.

4. Commitment leads to clarity

Today’s decision makers across games and music are much more familiar with how trends in culture exist, and this puts them under pressure to deliver one of two things: Something fiercely original, or something truly outstanding in a popular space. First or best. (Book recommendation of ‘The Song Machine’ for further reading here)

If there is any takeaway from this Substack, is that following the wave is not a bad thing, and neither is going against it - I think these are the wrong questions to ask. Instead, it’s much better to focus on choosing to commit fully to your idea regardless of how much it swings into or away from cultural trends, even if they are modern or nostalgic. Originality is best seen as a ‘byproduct’ of a firm direction rather than a ‘goal’.

If your music direction feels more closely aligned to a trend of music, you get the benefits of being associated and recognised amongst the aesthetic. PS1-era aesthetic has multiple associations that can drive attention back. A decent playlist will have diverse curation within the aesthetic. Anyone looking to discover you can start with opening the door to the PS1-era menu music, for example. Even if you don’t stand out, you stand a higher chance of being heard inside these search terms. I’d call this sideways networking, as you rely on your peers to interact alongside your work.

However, if your music direction aspiration requires you to walk into the fog of war and do what no other music director has done - that is also exciting and great! If that is the very intention of the game and fits the narrative, it is definitely the right thing to do. You wouldn’t want to lose the striking identity of your game by kneeling to a trend, and you therefore won’t care about the perks of being associated or found amongst that aesthetic and the products within it. The biggest perk of original music styles, like Jet Set Radio and Hotline Miami, is the potential for them to influence many derivative aesthetics that point back to you. I’d call this innovation networking, or at least a derivative of Fan Refraction, as you rely on others referencing your work as time goes on. This is harder to successfully achieve, but you get to be forever known as ‘first’ to do it.

The best case, is that you ignore both ends and focus on how to harness your identity, and use a collection of the above methodologies to guide how you showcase the music beyond the game. Excellence here, even amongst abundance, is about having the highest musical clarity for the message and values of your game.

One troubleshooting note - trend chasing? No. Cultural alignment? Yes. Ape Escape’s OST was a shiny fish in a recognisable pond. a shiny fish without a pond is a rare phenomenon, as you benefit from the ponds water to show off your shine. That’s an odd metaphor, but one that encourages people to not feel they need to be unique for the sake of it, long term game music direction prowess appears to consistently come from being clear.

5. Notable Mention

In the TikTok video I posted at the start of this Substack, I saw many people referencing Buck Bumble. It had absolutely no business going this hard.

TLDR:

The person that made Ape Escape’s legendary soundtrack, as well as the person that chose who would make it, both were separately influenced by the same early 90s culture. The soundtrack stood out because of its strong identity and commitment within a recognisable trend.

Today, music and game teams often feel pressure to be completely original or technically the best. A clearer approach is to focus on musical identity first, then decide whether that identity sits inside a trend or outside of it and the benefits of its position.

I saw this crop up a few months ago and kept this in my pocket to test out a thesis. After such a big splash, what will Daft Punk’s team do with new fans found through Fortnite? What are the learnings from this that should be considered by any artist collaboration?

1. The Event & The Impact

2. The Flywheel

3. Cultural & Contextual Timelines

4. Brand Promise, Emotion & What Comes Next

5. Ideas

1. The Event & The Impact

Since Daft Punk broke up in 2021, it may have been only a pipe dream to be able to experience a Daft Punk live show. However, the Daft Punk x Fortnite activation was an impressive 30 minute experience using the full power of a digital platform for an appropriately themed artist, which I think has been praised as one of the best events Fortnite has done. Check it out here:

Impact wise, streams obviously went up. This is old news now. We’ve seen this across film, TV, gaming with most activations.

Statistically, as seen above, % increases to streaming numbers across the board. Again, no surprises here.

Let’s dig into numbers for a second though. I also spotted that there was a 6 million increase of monthly listeners. This uplift alone would mean anywhere between $50-100k per month for the rights holders on top of what they had before. Since checking this in February 2026, 4 months after the activation, they have had their monthly listeners reduce by 2 million, potentially putting their consistent uplift at $35-70k per month for rights holders, totalling an estimated $140k-400k just through streaming outcomes of this event. That’s great!

…But the more interesting question is what happens after that spike.

The question isn’t whether an activation drives streams, but whether it creates a system that compounds them:

• What changes as a result of the activation?

• What does the audience look like now compared to before?

• How can those changes be used deliberately rather than treated as a by-product?

But my favourite question to ask, and one I think is the most fundamental point of these activations is: How can this moment be used to segue an audience and new fans to the next moment? All activations should be part of a system, or a ‘Flywheel’ - something that spins faster with more momentum, ideally perpetually.

We’ve seen this with modern artist campaigns that have notoriously taken years, as well as grassroots artists that want to springboard their previous work into their next one. Sir Dave Brailsford, former director of British Cycling, discussed that aggregation of marginal gains, even by 1% at a time, lead to significant growth and performance across the board.

Projects like this are typically linear: Creative inspiration creates data. Data insights into optimised opportunities. Match against resources. Plan idea. Pressure test. Schedule. Execute. End.

My question to you is, why end?

2. The Flywheel

By Flywheel, I’m referencing both its definition, and its metaphorical utility within the book ‘From Good To Great’ by James C. Collins.

Definition of ‘Flywheel’: a heavy revolving wheel in a machine which is used to increase the machine’s momentum and thereby provide greater stability or a reserve of available power and its

In Good to Great, the Flywheel means that sustained success comes from many small, consistent actions that build momentum over time, rather than from a single bold move or dramatic breakthrough.

Two important axes here involve zooming further out: What happened before, and what will happen after?

It doesn’t even need to be gaming, but there is a benefit to keeping this momentum with a response or a lead to keep this audience. What are the changes to the audience base, and how can you/Daft Punk use this as an advantage?

So instead of a project line, we have a project circle.

This may not be revolutionary, but it highlights the difference between the classic ‘project delivery’ perspective and seeing gaming ventures as equal to longer-tail campaigns, where music and artist weave between them and create bridges of opportunity beyond the game.

That’s a really important part of the music world. We shouldn’t just look at Spotify stats as the end goal. Activations are not temporary. They are very much permanent in the narrative of the artist, and after acquiring feedback and new fanbases with potential new demographics, how can you nurture them?

If Daft Punk were active, this would mean immediately following the Fortnite event with content that reinforces the same aesthetic and emotional context.

It gets so much wider, but for a band of this size, with a worldwide-dominating campaign and legacy IP that now has cultural relevancy, this matters. I will give credit to the fact they broke up in 2021 making the flywheel partly redundant within this example, however if they were willing to permit their name and likeness in this way once, I’m sure they would be willing to do it again, and there’s plenty to learn of this example regardless.

3. Cultural & Contextual Timelines

Let’s remember: The average demographic of those developing the game, and those playing the games, are potentially different.

Developers may be more familiar with the original timeline of Daft Punk, where this activation would be exposure to a whole new audience. That’s a whole new timeline - if we’re talking Dragon Ball Z, The Legend of Zelda, Back to the Future, etc. as parallels.

If someone asks you “what’s your favourite album of all time?”, you’ll likely answer with the one you listened to the most. However, today’s listeners tend to engage with music in more utility-driven, contextual ways now that there is such a vast amount of it, which is why you see themed playlists doing lots of the heavy lifting on streaming services.

Any music that breaks through culturally has the ability to soundtrack and design the imagined life that the listener has, and contexts are created with cultural understandings such as TikTok trends and gaming activations.

An easier example: Is the same album that is your ‘favourite of all time’ the same album you can laugh to? Cry to? Pre-drink to? Wind down to? I think it’s unlikely they’re all the same.

These unique pathways of cultural understanding are important for modern interaction with music - soundtracking the fan, and how they build their ambience using music in these ways. Ultimately, these are new and important routes to fandom, where you open up a new step: from ‘fan of the sound’ to ‘fan of the artist’.

When a gaming activation happens it likely creates additional fan groups, where new fans are separate demographics to OG fans because of the new way they have accessed you as an artist. Your aesthetic and visual IP, as well as your music, are very defining and map well to gaming activations that are becoming more and more enriched.

In application, Daft Punk’s party aesthetic put on a show that was distinct to them, with many ways of interacting with their music that purposefully (or accidentally) made complete sense to the expectations people had of Daft Punk (older fans praising it), as well as a fun new experience and new expectation for new fans (new fans learning more about Daft Punk).

4. Brand Promise, Emotion & What Comes Next

Artists are incredibly well set up to catch these audiences with traditional means, such as already having merch stores and the ability to listen through DSPs. But one holistic or philosophical next step would be to understand that you and your artist’s vibe is the destination for an emotion or scene.

Viral moments on TikTok make this very real. Look at Joji’s ‘Slow Dancing in the Dark’ or anything with scene-specific moments. Many TikToks.

I’ve spoken about aesthetic lots before, but I suppose I’ve been re-articulating what this looks like: Scene & Emotion Mapping. Scene or emotion mapping is one part, but the second is a guaranteed expectation of your presence equalling a certain type of experience. Funny, that abbreviates to ‘SAEM’, but its ironically not the 'same’, I’ll call it Mapping going forward.

Mapping is equivalent to a brand promise.

What is your artist ‘promise’ every time they show up? And how can you keep this running, and keep the circle going? How do you use your own data to plan your next step, to the point where you can start predicting it by using your brand promise?

There are some artists who have done something similar, such as Deadmau5, Sofi Tukker, and some K-pop artists who consistently turn up for gaming and lean in actively. But what about artists that haven’t interacted with this space, despite having a strong brand promise?

I remember going to Ibiza on a stag do and going to Glitterbox, and after drinking far too much with my pals, the DJ busted out ‘One More Time’ mid-set. The whole place went off. That was such a pinnacle moment of that entire trip. The vibe matched that selection perfectly, and now I associate pinnacle moments that way. This is a similar experience to how gamers who have a great time through an experience do.

The promise I’ve made is that that track equals something to me. So what is that something? And that something has to actually happen - not just something you want to happen - which is where feedback/diagnosis come into play.

So beyond data, how are people who are both familiar and new to Daft Punk receiving this experience? And therefore, how can you replicate this throughout everything you do next?

5. Ideas

Just some light potential inspiration without giving too much away for anyone else looking to connect cycles, using the idea of keeping the brand promise through appropriate Mapping.

• Daft Punk did Daft Punk x Fortnite merch, this was good.

• Experiential awards for participating. In-game this could be for some additional superfan DLC thats very exclusive and number limited. Or in real life, access to merch/tickets providing you have ‘proof’ of attending. Still think my multi-portal licensing account idea would have big potential for music superfans, I might actually make this happen. Anyone fancy giving me a hand?

• Fortnite game capture into a link to their next project. Fair few games do this, but Fortnite could use the last piece to subtly draw people out of Fortnite to their next activation, gaming or non-gaming.

• In-game ideas for the next connection could include resident in an in-game club, which could have a run up as a ‘hidden artist’ playing new/mixes that sound quintessentially Daft Punk, but aren’t. Racing radio overtakes like Horizon, GTA or car sim games - levels could have aesthetic amends like Tron-esque.

There are examples where you may get invitations from games you might not feel are a good fit, but you can get creative. For example, let’s say Daft Punk got an invite from Helldivers 2. Helmet unlockables would be v cool here. You could do a themed re-interpretation of ‘Veridis Quo’, maybe for a layer similar to their animated film Interstella 5555, making a subtle nod to that experience without harming the fierce narrative of the game. Even an epic orchestral version of ‘Lose Yourself to Dance’ would work to trailerise a takeover, and even that mention could act as a bridging parallel without being on-the-nose, maybe even using the phrase “Serve the cause, advance”, or an equivalent.

TLDR

Daft Punk’s Fortnite activation was strong, but it could have been a moment between moments rather than an isolated one - the system is greater than the moment. Treating these activations as part of a ‘Flywheel’ allows artists to combine learnings with fan expectation through Brand Promise and Emotion Mapping, guiding what comes next. Mapping well means showing up in ways that reinforce the brand and carry momentum forward.

Also, Daft Punk would go hard in Helldivers 2. HMU.

Today, I’m exploring that Roblox & UMG commercial partnership news. To summarise the article: Universal Music Group and Roblox have announced a strategic partnership to expand music and commercial integrations on Roblox, including enabling artists and labels to sell digital and physical merchandise via Shopify. The deal ‘formalises’ closer creative, operational, and commercial collaboration, with UMG rolling out further artist activations and tools aimed at increasing fan engagement and revenue on the platform.

What could this mean? are we about to see a huge influx of Universal artist projects on Roblox? Let’s discuss.

1. Structure > Content

2. What could this commercial partnership look like?

3. What about data?

4. The real question is ‘how’ rather than ‘what’.

1. Structure > Content

I have made a metaphor for you. Imagine the owner of the Pina Colada recipe decides that only one bar can sell Pina Coladas, and that any unauthorised Pina Coladas anywhere in the world are banned.

Universal want to ensure that any Pina Colada out there is authorised, and that they are able to collect that Pina Colada profit. This comes at the sacrifice of people widely being able to enjoy Pina Coladas, and perhaps people may never discover Pina Coladas this way.

Some people have given their drinks recipes the ability to exist in every bar - providing they forgo any profits, just so people can get exposed to their drink (Distrokid x Roblox), but Universal are suggesting every Pina Colada will be authorised, monetised - but haven’t stated how people will interact with the drink. So this is a structural announcement, not necessarily a content one.

Realistically, Universal are doing this because they want to ensure that the money for every drinks recipe goes as directly as possible back to the original bartender - this is a good thing in my opinion.

Back on topic and to start this whole piece off, it’s good that we can protect artists, and UMG is doing what any label should be doing for their artist, which is protecting their rights and interest, while looking to enhance every ergonomic avenue for a fan to be a fan of an artist. noice.

Direct ownership of IP channels like this with commerce is so important now given the news about Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) - An AI Bot that will source and purchase the item you need for you. Instead of flashy ads to grab a shoppers intention, you’ll need to own the optomisied channel to get that UCP to locate your product, and the IP/product owners will benefit directly if they distribute directly. Universal are ahead of the game here.

However, this is music news, rather than gaming news.

When I google this article, I see loads of music news outlets discussing it, but I couldn’t find a single gaming outlet discussing it. I can’t help but feel this is an indicator of something. I kept going through pages of results and as soon as I got to 6 and spotted articles from over a year ago I gave up the search.

I’d make a few assumptions from this - Roblox did not frame this as a player-facing evolution, game developers were not addressed as stakeholders, and no tooling announcement was compelling or specific enough for game creators to talk about. I totally get it - this is not something of interest for the game-orientated as nothing other than a private foundation was announced.

2. What could this commercial partnership look like?

My assumption is that there will be 2 key features of this partnership.

The first is ensuring all artist-related products are artist-derived. UMG/Artist likely wants to set up official Roblox channels for their artist’s products. Players come in, buy stuff, money goes over to Shopify, they pay UMG their royalty, UMG pay the artist - everyone’s happy. If money only comes through these agreed avenues, it can be tracked and monetised for exclusive benefit of the parties involved in this deal.

Let’s reference the analogy. Distrokids’ stance is: “Everyone can have and make your Pina Colada recipe, but you won’t earn anything from it. The bars will make all the money instead…but everyone knows about your Pina Colada so be grateful!”

While Universal’s stance is “Absolutely not - if you want a Pina Colada, you’re going to have it the exact way it is supposed to be made, and its available in this way, and the recipe owner rightfully benefits everytime”

Distrokid may have been able to garner huge exposure of the drink in this way, but for the Pina Colada IP owner you need to have a separate way of cashing in on that exposure. You trade the product itself for advertising, to then have to make another product to monetise. While Universal is ensuring that the product itself is traceable, monetisable, and controlled.

The second is ensuring other people don’t make money out of their artists works. Given their statement: “This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to responsible AI practices“, they will need some sort of ‘Tool’ to scan the 150 million daily players and their activities to ensure no one is setting up unofficial merch stores. I imagine this like some sort of Content ID.

…But what about all the items that exist already?

• Do Roblox players have to give them back?

• Do they get a refund?

• Does the creator get compensated for this, especially if this is their main uncontested business on this app for the last 17ish years, or do we just draw the line?

• Does the creator retroactively get punished?

• Does that creator become de-legitimised, when they were the one enriching the application with the artists cultural impact?

• How selective will this process be?

• Is Roblox more of a social app, like Tiktok/Instagram, and therefore non-commercial uses of IP is generally not contested?

• Or does UMG see Roblox exclusively as a D2C store, and there will be firm rules on commercial availability of artist culture?

‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’ I hear in the distance.

3. What about data?

I’m sure another valuable aspect of this arrangement is the data access. Roblox has 150 million daily users, which is astronomical, and if they are able to somehow find unifying product & measurement pipelines to get enriched data then they may be sat on a more impactful partnership that goes beyond this footfall. Note for reference that Instagrams daily users are around 500 million, and TikTok is 135 million.

However, data access for minors is rightfully heavily protected, so this would be mainly for sense checking where their music is interacted with in higher or lower volumes, and how the wave of interactivity goes on this platform. Really interesting insights for this particular ‘context’ rather than collecting this and adding to a ‘demographic’. If assessing demographic, its worth noting that a primary active player base of minors will shortly become the primarily interactors and taste makers for newer contexts on non-gaming apps and therefore fan interaction and purchases as time goes on. So is this a long term indicator strategy at the very least - nice!

What could this look like in the future?

Universal have pulled their entire catalogue from TikTok before. I think this will likely drive the quality of select and ‘framework approved’ experiences higher. Is this something that Roblox players care about? We will have to wait and see.

Can a Roblox playes still buy a Pina Colada easily?

My understanding is that the music industry treat entertainment like a spectacle, but modern gaming are more interested in agency. Providing there is good gameplay considered with this framework, it’ll do well, but without consideration to player agency I feel the spectale of music will not be more powerful that the community and gameplay experiences players have on Roblox.

The secret winners are Shopify.

Regardless of the deal, Shopify own the till. I’ve got a running theory that the modern music industry is struggling to unify attention among the masses due to applications and 3rd party services taking away the attention that once was exclusively held within shows and the record stores. Even if they do orchestrate a solid campaign, sometimes the usage that defines the campaign is completely out of their control, such as a viral video. Instead of gaining creative control, its a bigger priority to ensure these services out of your control pay for use of your music. Look at the Suno deal, fight for rights recognition, and then they’re the best of friends.

4. The real question is ‘how’ rather than ‘what’.

We love to see artists being protected and compensated. We also love to see formalised pipelines and ways for artists/representatives through any medium to interact with their fans, and this article suggests Roblox as a world building experience is becoming more formalised.

But now what?

This article didn’t detail what they were doing to do with this deal and these tools. I’ve seen instances of shows like The Block and worlds like Twice Arena which all have been successful and look great, but what about integration into the wider ecosystem where these tools and purchases, and more importantly the expression of fandom, could interact with too?

This could be a real opportunity for a swat team of Roblox-native A&R's to spot cool tasteful opportunities for their artists to exist and interact with that feels more like a part of the growing story of Roblox rather than just a billboard ad. If rights holders did this, they would be able to curate (and therefore control) what music is the hot topic between Roblox experiences. This narrative-building strategy would ensure that moments are organic, data is collected, and in-Roblox activations can now be judged with deeper metrics to understand if they translate to key performance indicators that the music industry values e.g conversions, streams, ticket sales, conversational mentions, increase in appearance to native creations etc.

TLDR

UMG and Roblox have agreed the rules for Artist-related products (Pina Coladas) on Roblox. There are a couple of reasons for this - whether this framework exists mainly to track music usages, remove IP piracy and monetise directly (count every ‘drink’ and collect the takings directly), or whether it’s a foundation for richer, more native music experiences (better beach parties all around!). My guess is both, conveniently.

Cheers!

However, audience pushback has changed; instead of showing up as low engagement, players are now openly rejecting these moments. Here is a link to an article about Assassins Creed’s collaboration with Attack on Titan being ‘slated’ by fans and being referred to as ‘peak slop in its purest form’.

Honestly that statement properly cracked me up. I’ve got no stance on the game itself, but the sheer volume of appearances of the word ‘Slop’ in my feeds and interactions are exponential, and it has sparked my interest in understanding it.

How can we avoid any music x gaming moments being referred to as “slop” in any shape or form?

A. What is Slop?
B. A helpful checklist - D.E.S.L.O.P
C. Current thoughts

A. What is Slop

According to Merriam-Webster, the current slang definition of ‘slop’ is:

slop

noun
’unwanted and unasked for AI-generated content’

…I’m not sure how much I agree with this, nor that a poor-performing partnership automatically means its AI. If I was to define slop in a more unforgivable way, it would be anything “Out Of Place”.

Slop seems to be used as a blanket term for many undesirable things. So how do we ensure that a placement or a crossover avoids the slop label?

B. A Helpful Checklist - D.E.S.L.O.P

You know me - I’ve been known to make a list or two. Love me a good taxonomy. So, just for you, I’ve created a ticklist of qualifiers that I think at a very basic level could help indicate if a partnership is robust. I’ve named this the ‘Diagnostic Engine for Sync Licensing and Original Partnerships’ or D.E.S.L.O.P for short.

There are exceptions, specifics and executables that all shift and change, but ultimately I’d ask myself the below questions to help stress-test an idea.

1. Artist Alignment

Right out of the gate, a great question to ask is - ‘Does the artist actually like the game?’. If the partnership requires the actual presence of an artist, or even a deeper nuanced presence of an artists aesthetic in the game, it’s important to have this ticked. This ensures you match tone, energy and ensure the final input is genuine and experience-enriching. The benefits in audience cross-pollination between the artist and the game is powerful too.

A great example of this is Post Malone × Hunt: Showdown as it’s so clear that Posty loves this game.

2. Creative Contribution

Does this idea add something to the overall experience? A partnership should aim to bring something the game can’t generate internally. That might be a distinct sonic identity, a thematic shift, a cameo with intent, or even the aesthetic that enriches the atmosphere.

A great example is Refused, who are a real life band who’s music featured heavily in the marketing for Cyberpunk 2077, but they also feature in-game as the band Samurai - the supporting band to one of the main protagonists.

3. ‘First’ or ‘Best’

I’ve written about being first or best before, so to summarise old ground: Is this innovative or excellent? A middle-of-the-road idea rarely survives long in the public consciousness. A partnership either pushes into new territory or nails the familiar with enough scale and craft to stand out. An example is an old one - Marshmello was the first mainstream concert in Fortnite, but Travis Scott is also known as a technical and cultural milestone. Both of them are pioneers in each direction.

4. Mutual Audience Logic

Does it make sense? This is a broader question because I’m referring to both the audience demographic as well as their creative worlds - which to me are shared interests anyway. The collaboration should feel intuitively ‘right’ to the players, because the artist and the game are already operating within an overlapping space. This should aim to feel like an extension rather than a ‘cross over’ where they shake hands and continue generating momentum for their respective campaigns.

Percival Schuttenbach’s folk-metal sound overlaps perfectly with The Witcher’s audience and cultural roots, making their tavern songs feel native to the world. If anyone wanted to re-listen to the aesthetic soundscape of The Witcher, they can easily go back to Percival.

For the record, vastly opposite campaigns can totally work - look at Metallica on Just Dance. You can go so far outside the expected lane that the sheer boldness becomes the point (see 3. ‘First Or Best’ - Innovation focus)

5. Long-Term

Will this integration exist beyond its launch? Ideally, it becomes part of the game’s ongoing narrative, or it gives players something to build around, remix, share, revisit, or reference over time. This is largely decided by the impact it had on the narrative, an innovative gameplay feature, or community adoption.

Monstercat’s partnership with Rocket League is one of my fave examples. As an avid listener to the Monstercat Podcast (now ‘Call Of The Wild’) I had such an instant connection with Rocket League’s sonic identity. When they collaborated it felt so right that it furthered my connection with both that label and the game. This has been a long, collaborative partnership that has helped forge each others identity over time.

6. Memorability

And finally, possibly the biggest one - Will the player remember this moment? This is a big one for me because I’ve written about a few absolute gems in my time. Halo 2 x Breaking Benjamin, Red Dead Redemption 2 x D’Angelo… there’s SO many case studies of excellent work. A worthy collaboration produces a moment that becomes part of the player’s personal history with the game, and therefore nostalgia, which is great for long term fans of artists and games alike.

I would tell you all about the completely forgettable music and gaming cross overs but…well…I can’t remember them.

C. Further Notes

In my opinion, something becomes out of place when an AI can’t hold enough context to make a cohesive choice amongst its cacophony of assumptions, or when a crossover feels engineered for time-saving, cost-saving, favouritism, or financial gain rather than a genuine and considered fit.

Fortnite have engineered something genuinely unique and impressive, but I do think it unintentionally shapes how people interpret “Slop”. Every major IP Fortnite brings in slots into a wider story arc they control, and the whole structure of the game is built around constant crossovers. In Fortnite, anything goes, its interactive, long term and it makes sense.

But that logic doesn’t apply for every game.

As a random example, If I’m playing the next Dead Space and the next jump scare turns out to be a Care Bear, I can’t tell whether I’m more irritated about being yanked out of the atmosphere and narrative, or about how much it must have cost to drop an advert into a survival-horror corridor. Also, leave me alone - I’m trying not to die in space. I don’t need a rainbow slide rescue today.

TLDR

Music and games are made primarily out of passion. When it works, the impact of music and games together reaches further than either would alone. However, slop is in the eye of the beholder. Use the D.E.S.L.O.P checklist to assess your idea before you commit.

Instead of writing, I’ve been spending more time watching from the sidelines and having one on one chats with loads of incredibly learned people in this space. I’ve truly upgraded my understanding of the bridge between music & gaming, and made some friends along the way.

Turns out one of my music-industry theories I documented years ago seems to have become particularly important in recent months, and I’d like to share this in order to help anyone sift through repetitive news and understand what really matters to them.

1. Is That Headline Important To You?

2. The ‘Billboard’ Theory

3. The Pre-Mainstream Window

4. Optimal Artist Strategies

   

1. Is That Headline important to you?

Amongst the plethora of AI-generated thought-leadership pieces from execs on my Linkedin, there’s been lots of chat regarding some of the Roblox games that have seen vast numbers of concurrent players. I’ve seen headlines like:

• “Grow a Garden: The surprise Roblox gaming hit” (BBC)

• “Millions are flocking to grow virtual gardens in viral Roblox game created by teenager“ (AP News)

• “Roblox’s Steal a Brainrot becomes first game to surpass 25m concurrent players”(Pocketgamer)

I’m sure there’s loads of gamers out there who love this news - but this substack will not be doing a deep dive on it (Industry insights here). Instead, I can’t help but feel like a number of artists, brands and collaborators will be running towards these headlines like its a new target for them. Suddenly, the idea of soundtracking or collabing with Grow A Garden or Steal A Brainrot is on the hitlist.

It’s very temping to chase yesterday’s success story instead of understanding tomorrow’s logic - I’m here to dissuade you from this. Even Grow a Garden - one of the biggest viral hits in Roblox history - lost more than half its active players within a month of its peak. Smaller games fade even faster as platform algorithms push fresh experiences to the front page.

The first point I’m getting at here is that no one could have predicted that games like Grow A Garden or Steal A Brainrot would have been as big as they were. With the addition of UGC (User-Generated Content - how Roblox allow 3rd party developers can make games for their platform) it takes a specific skillset to understand how to make a good, fresh and relevant experience in Roblox. This also goes for modern console and PC games too even if their skillset and foundation is vastly different - some of these games come into our lives and unpredictably did better than expected (Stardew Valley was built by one person and selling over 30 million copies is an example that comes to mind)

I recall a live agent friend of mine who showed me an email where many years ago they were offered Billie Eilish as a support slot - which at the time they turned down. They had no idea what was to come, and even if they said yes, would it have changed anything for them at that time?

Anyway, my point is that the news is not your to-do list. So how can we spot the opportunities that apply to us instead?

2. The ‘Billboard’ Theory

Imagine a billboard on the side of a busy motorway…

Lots of people will see this billboard. That makes it a valuable location, and therefore quite expensive to access.

Let’s say you’re an emerging artist, and you notice lots of the big artists are on billboards and you think to yourself “Yeah I wanna be on a billboard” - completely understandable.

…But earlier that day, you’ve been past loads of billboards, and my guess is that you don’t remember them all. Have you ever discovered a new artist from a billboard before? Perhaps you only will remember the more established artists that have comprehensive campaigns linking the exposure of that billboard with loads of other touch points too.

Artists like Adele, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi etc can justify this spend (which is YOUR money if you’re signed btw! Don’t forget that) purely on an impact standpoint - lots of work that benefitted from this exposure was done before the billboard and therefore this billboard is purely a reminder to the masses.

To justify billboard spend, you need other marketing activations to happen both before and alongside it to make it make sense. If you don’t have a bigger plan in place linking these together, the billboard probably isn’t worth the excessive expense. You’ll lose your ‘underdog’ status if you’re not careful too.

So to apply this here, treating video games like a standalone billboard is not a good strategy. An average strategy would be to collaborate the billboard amongst many other moments, an excellent strategy is to have a narrative that links everything together, and the best strategy is all of the above but also where all the fans agree that the artist is a perfect fit, both from passion and direction.

You can read my original ‘Finding Your Identity’ deck here. I made it for all my mentee’s I worked with across 5 years, collecting exercises to determine the best way to do targeted trial & error to move towards an articulated goal. Sharing is caring!

3. The Pre-Mainstream Window

All those concurrent hits for some of these headline games are a pretty good indicator that gaming is a mass-market entertainment platform, but for some reason it feels that gaming has not been accepted as ‘mainstream’ from any other medium.

Traditional media still talks about gamers rather than to them, and that keeps the culture feeling insider-led. To me, this has created a small and short window where genuine involvement from artists in games still feels authentic, not like an advert. Once gaming becomes totally absorbed into pop culture as an accepted equal medium, every activation may look like an ad - unless proven otherwise. That sounds expensive.

Looking at this in the perspective of the Billboard theory - even being on a video game feels like it gives you an air of authenticity at the same time as legitimacy, but this will not last for long. Some of the bigger games you will notice are garnering partnerships from the artists that can afford this access (see recent Lady Gaga in Roblox’s ‘Dress To Impress’ game or The Daft Punk Experience in Fortnite examples) and they are making the most out of these experiences while accessing statistical uplift from their exposure.

These expensive billboards have always been reserved for artists that can justify it, and now it’s the same for games. This means there will be opportunities away from these more formal, carved out larger experiences to re-allocate authenticity to smaller, more discovery-focused gaming activations. Imagine smaller, more tailored billboards…

Gaming’s accessibility makes it an incredible discoverability tool for music, especially given how non-curated and unpredictable some of the biggest experiences are. Now we understand that some video games price out smaller artists - how can any artist spot the opportunities that matter to them?

4. Optimal Artist Strategies

So we now know that gaming doesn’t act the same as other mediums, either by access or reputation. Instead of spanking your latest advance cash-money on some coloured paper sat over the M4 flyover in London, I’d advise thinking carefully about buying your way to success and consider your wider strategy when interacting with a game.

In the case of the billboard pic I provided earlier - We can guarantee Adele’s team did not put up a billboard alone, she appeared in many places at the same time, or at least in close succession. Some of these places made perfect sense for Adele as she was going for the reputation that I’d summarise as ‘timeless prestige’, and I bet we didn’t see her advertising across Tiktok influencer campaigns or with energy drinks etc.

Naavik’s State of UGC Games 2025 report backs this up. The most successful experiences on Roblox and Fortnite Creative came from games which had high discoverability and retention. Games spread because they’re easy to find, fun to replay, and built for social momentum through sharing and word-of-mouth. In this case, momentum beats marketing - and this is the exact strategy I recommend considering.

That same principle applies to music. You don’t need a six-figure Fortnite world to make impact; you need a moment that feels native to the space and true to your audience’s behaviour that can carry momentum to the next place - in or out of the video game experience.

Here’s what I’d think about when considering the billboard:

• Where is the billboard? Find games that reflect you, your values, and ideas that your audience would easily associate with you. A super cool game that fits your vibe with a smaller audiences is still the right billboard location.

• What happened before and after the billboard? Having a game inclusion/partnership with nothing planned before or after is a waste as people will forget. If you’re an artist first, your aim is to supplement the game so well that you make fans - so give them an origin story and somewhere to go next.

• What’s the story behind the billboard? Your artist journey both in and out of gaming has a narrative. Does this game partnership make sense? Or do you risk ‘selling out’ by pursuing such an inclusion that doesn’t fit?

• Will people remember this billboard? Memory is the greatest metric for being part of a game inclusion. Is it emotional? or unique? A small memorable win outlives a standard billboard.

• Seen any other billboards you like? Others are allowed to pave their way, what can you learn from those successful experiences - but most importantly - how can you translate (not apply) this to you and your plans?

Naavik’s data showed that the most viral UGC games succeeded through interaction loops, creative replay, and social energy. That’s very similar to the way an artist would design their own campaign with highly responsive communication as opposed to a lavish and expensive stand-alone billboard placement.

Also, if you’re an established artist and can afford to jump into the big experiences, more power to you! The above explorations still apply to ensure the experience aligns so you make the most out of it, and crack that whip over those pesky label interns to ensure they are prepping the next steps of your campaign.

TLDR

Not all news is relevant, but some of it is worth learning from. The best outcome is finding more opportunities that work in alignment with the artist’s journey regardless of the size. Working with a game with a memorable inclusion as part of a wider narrative so that fans know where you started, where you are going and how to join the community is a great strategy to stay authentic while enriching the experience of the video game.

There’s a time and place for a Billboard. Asking yourself if it’s worth it could save yourself a whole load of ‘missing’ royalties.

From a music perspective, I’ve first hand witnessed the industry change and grow over time, however the success of iTunes pointed something out to me about modern gaming. I’d like to write this down somewhere, so here you go.

1. ‘Back In My Day’

2. Why was iTunes successful?

3. Games-As-A-Platform Vs. The World

4. MULTI-PORTAL LICENSING (And other sexy solutions)

1. ‘Back In My Day’

When my era of gamers grew up (Ew, what a line to use) we started out on the Sega MegaDrive, highlights include: Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Then came the N64 & PS1 era, which absolutely blew my mind - GoldenEye, Mario 64, Future Cop: LAPD, Silent Bomber, and of course, Final Fantasy.

Then we were blessed with the GameCube inc. Smash Bros., Lost Kingdoms, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, as well as the PS2, inc. GTA, Black, Kingdom Hearts, more Final Fantasy, AND the original Xbox (Halo, NBA Jam, Fable) - handhelds too!

I couldn’t afford my own Xbox 360/PS3 at the time, but I got my fix playing Modern Warfare 2 in uni halls with friends. Shared experiences through couch co-op was king at this time, Gears of War, Halo, the Perfect Dark XBLA remaster, Borderlands etc…

This all happened within the space of 10-ish years

The music and culture woven into those experiences shaped my taste in ways I still feel now. It was the way games introduced me to artists, genres, and styles I might never have found otherwise. That influence didn’t stay locked in the gaming world either because I’m sure those discovered recommendations were shared with friends who don’t even play. Music has truly benefited from this kind of gaming-led curation because music is so portable.

…But what about the younger gamers existing today?

As much as the above is a meme, there is truth within it. There have only been a handful of games that have dominated player attention for the last 10 years. My initial impression is that a big chunk of music & culture has been experienced through these games. If moments like Travis Scott events, or Dress To Impress, only happen within a selection of games, this could create a bottleneck of culture. It could mean that only certain-sized or supported music artists would be able to be part of these competitively scheduled moments - so what’s your alternative?

2. Why Was iTunes Successful?

Swinging over to the music industry - In the early 2000’s we had music piracy. ooooo (I’m imagining some panto-style ‘He’s Behind You’ commentary here). Think Napster, Limewire and many other torrent sites that enable you to get hold of a music file for free.

After folklore tales of digi-first employees at major labels being laughed out of meeting rooms when they warned about the wave of digital music, the execs finally saw the sales numbers drop to piracy and they had to do something about it. In comes Digital Rights Management (DRM)! We had this horrible period of time that is well documented where labels introduced solutions, such as native, isolated, password protected media players, some of which where you had to enter in a password to legitimately play legally purchased digital music on your computer. Every. Single. Time.

Given the continuing climb of piracy, it was clear that this poor user experience felt more like a punishment for legally purchasing music.

Then, Apple came in wearing a cape with the iPod and the Apple iTunes store, with that TV ad that plays that bloody ‘Jerk It Out’ song that does my head in. It seemed so simple - here’s an easy way to buy & play music. And it did quite well, both financially and culturally.

Here’s a great book recommendation on this narrative.

This solution was ergonomic. Instead of following the piracy route, resulting in a messy downloads folder and your AVG-antivirus running on overtime, your iTunes library became a way to showcase your identity. Your iPod became more and more full of music that you ‘owned’…

(I spent ages thinking if i should air quote that given the depth of complexity with that word and contentious discussions everywhere but i did it anyway. so there.)

…but more importantly, music that you could do whatever you wanted with. That was my main point - The music industry eventually permitted that if you buy digital music you can move it out of iTunes, but if you buy a cosmetic inside of most games it can only be accessed within the game.

3. Games-As-A-Platform Vs. The World

But just like a relationship, ‘time-spent-in-it’ is a factor to continue seeing someone. Bold bridge I’m making here bear with me…

In her 1980 study, Caryl Rusbult surveyed individuals in romantic relationships to test what factors predicted their commitment to a partner. She found that commitment was not solely based on satisfaction, but also on the perceived quality of alternatives and the size of investments made in the relationship, such as time, emotional energy, and shared experiences. Even when satisfaction was low, people were more likely to remain in a relationship if they had made significant investments. These findings led to the formulation of the Investment Model of Commitment, which remains influential in relationship psychology today. Here’s that paper.

Psychology, anyone?

Let’s go back to gaming, focusing on those modern dominating games like Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft (now known as GAAPs, like Games-As-A-Platform)…

All those assets - stats, achievements, KD ratios, money spent on skins that they used for a bit and probably will never use again, events, and onwards, are still kept inside of the GAAPS. These games have become digital hoarding cupboards for previous indulgences that makes you feel it’s not ‘wasted’ if you’re adding to a ‘forever accessible’ catalogue of your items, assuming these GAAPs are forever.

This is one of the many arguments for player retention to GAAPs, outside of ongoing live updates, free access, good additional games, community, FOMO when events are on etc. My main angle here is related to assets, and this is important because I believe assets to GAAPS are as relative as music is to iTunes.

I have 3 observations to make:

1. An example - 58% of Roblox users are under 16. The above Roblox graph shows perpetual linear growth. Young players are coming on this platform, and staying.

2. Going back to iTunes - you can move music (assets) outside of iTunes (GAAP), but you can’t move your game assets outside of a GAAP - a technical and legal nightmare.

3. Given these points, today’s gamers are more likely to experience music & culture if a GAAP has a partnership with it. At the moment, it’s mostly major ‘Hollywood IP’s that can operate at this scale and dominate the spotlight during GAAP events.

So, how can an artist belong in this space if this timeline becomes true? Ergonomics and permanence.

4. MULTI-PORTAL LICENSING (And other sexy solutions)

I have two ideas for this.

Feature 1: A ‘Global’ account for Non-GAAPs

Requirements: Everyone who is releasing stand alone games to co-operate, including platforms like Sony, Xbox etc. Likelihood? hahahaha.

What about a ‘global’ gaming account that unifies your activity across all your games? It tracks your achievements, rewards healthy play habits (like not grinding the same game endlessly), and unlocks perks across ecosystems. Download a skin on one game? Maybe it unlocks something in another game you’ve not played recently, or one that’s been sitting on your wishlist. Nothing is left to a game that you may only want to play through once.

If the HD gaming market is really that big, maybe it’s time to form a collective (like what Beggars Group did in music) to create more cohesion across platforms. A shared ecosystem could give in-game purchases more permanence, and opens up the potential to license to multiple games at once, making these partnerships more ergonomic.

Given how unlikely this is, what can music representatives do instead on relying on structural changes?

Feature 2: Multi-Portal Licensing

I originally wanted to call this the Fractionalized Multi-License model. But it humerously abbreviated as ‘FML’ and seemed way too apt for this analysis.

I’d look to license music in the context of an upcoming artist/album campaign across multiple games, treated as if this is a standard addition to a marketing plan. This is basically the same as above but the artist’s team controls the narrative.

A process could be that you sit down with an artist and understand their values and if gaming should even be considered as part of an artist/album campaign. Then, if yes and their values are understood, you can speak with game companies to see how their music and presence can be implemented in appropriate ways that cross-pollinate properly. I’ve written about these ideas loads.

But here’s the trick - you don’t stop there, you do it more, and consistently, and indefinitely, and merge your artist’s forever journey with how it interacts with the gaming world, finding interesting ways to connect these from outside games in your own control. Tip: Don’t just think about GAAPs, there’s loads of cool games out there. Do deluxe album editions with exclusive tracks come with in-game DLC’s for select games? Do DLC packs come with exclusive discounts to merch?

There is an emergence of superfan platforms now that act like a Patreon. Can a fan’s subscription to an artist’s fandom continually unlock a tiny corner inside of as many games as they are able & encouraged to access, indefinitely? That’s the answer. How do you do it as a music representative? All depends on the complex world of the artist and their direction…

Aaaand back to the present…We used to have games curate cultural experiences for us in multiple vessels. But would we want the next generation of gamers to have only really played a couple of games during the most influential and experimental parts of their lives? Would we want the younger generation only reading a couple of books, or even have only seen a couple of films? Only eating a few select dishes? Only having listened to a couple of albums? In 10 years?

GAAPS are like the o2 arena - only big artists that can sell out stadiums play there, but it doesn't stop you having the best night of your life at Slim Jims in Angel one friday night listening to your new favourite band. Both of these shows are important.

Get me a coffee. Actually, I’m not so good on caffeine. I’ll take a whiskey though?

TLDR

Today’s gaming landscape is dominated by a few massive platforms (‘GAAPs’ like Roblox), which risks bottlenecking music and culture into narrow pipelines. Drawing parallels to how iTunes once solved music piracy with ergonomics and user-friendly ownership, I propose two ideas: a universal gaming account to connect experiences across titles, and artist-led Multi-Portal Licensing to embed artist campaigns into a wider spread of games. The goal: more granular cultural diversity, better artist integration, and a future where players explore more than GAAPs and big-money ‘Hollywood IP’s.

Ergonomics and permanence.

Have you ever read ‘Freakonomics’? Anyway…

1. The OG Midnight Launches

2. DALE! Mr. Worldwide’s recent resurgence

3. What’s the crossover?

4. How music is the ‘glue’ for community

1. The Midnight Launch

Man…the midnight launch. Back in the day when gaming fans used to travel to their nearest retailer for a midnight launch of a game, and it used to be a real community event for fans of a franchise or development studio. Midnight launches were primarily community led.

As the years went on, midnight launches had dwindling numbers mainly due to digital releases and pre-installing (if you have a disc to buy at all!). Even Fortnite’s times square event understood this as I explained in a previous substack.

However, Nintendo Switch 2’s recent midnight launch had positive response. It literally brought a community together successfully as it had an excellent turnout, with Currys reporting selling 30,000 units that evening. This shows that the Switch 2’s midnight launch was an event that you couldn’t experience another way, and people showed up for it. This cultural phenomenon appears in tandem with it being the fastest-selling Nintendo console ever…Is this an indicator worth noting?

Here's a great interview on all things Midnight Release releated.

I’ve only been to one midnight launch and it was by accident. I was on a night out with one of my house mates, sat in Vodka Revs around 5ish pints deep, discussing everything as usual - when we suddenly discovered we both pre-ordered Borderlands 2, and that the midnight launch was in 10 minutes. We had two options:

1. Head to the bar, acquire an unholy quantity of jagerbombs, head to a series of clubs half-blind, (for)get a kebab on the way home, and wake up early morning with a BPM of 200 and hangxiety, and THEN pick up the game.

2. Sink our pints, swing by the midnight launch, get some tins for the way home, play it until the early hours and wait for this all to blow over.

And the rest is history. We turned up, chatted with a load of people in the queue, exchanged our stories of the original Borderlands game, who we hope is going to be featured, grabbed our copy and went back home. I fondly remember the sense of community.

What else do people do thats equivalent to a pilgrimage to celebrate a joint moment together? Music shows.

2. DALÉ! Mr. Worldwide’s Recent Resurgence

After lockdown in 2021, Pitbull mentions in an interview that he started seeing fans coming to his shows wearing bald-caps, aviators and suits - mimicking his iconic outfit choice. Since then, he’s made a serious resurgence in popular culture.

@thecooplivePit Planet has landed in Manchester #pitbull #manchester #concert #outfit

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For anyone unaware of who Pitbull is, he’s a prolific Cuban American rapper with a career spanning over 20 years, with bangers such as “Timber”, “Give Me Everything”, and “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)”. He’s had No 1 hits in more than 15 countries, has surpassed 14 billion YouTube views, and has 11 million adoring fans on Instagram.

This article details many accounts from fans of Pitbull’s peak era over the last 2 decades with the common thread that Pitbull’s music is inspirational, feel-good music soundtracking great memories, and he has a signature look.

Pitbull said "Every time I'm at a show, I let them know that when you put on a bald cap, I hope you're ready to have the time of your lives - it feels deeper than just music,"

A key factor to note here - his gratefulness is directed towards the community speaking back to him. He listened so much that he even went to play in a Walmart in a small town in Alaska when requested. He made the music he wanted to make into the open, and he met all the feedback with true humilility. He’s come across as genuine and easy to define, from the ‘recession pop’ era where we can use nostalgia to associate with the better times.

I compared Pitbull’s show data between 2015–2020 and 2021 onwards (including venue sizes and attendance rates) and found a clear jump in demand since the viral bald-cap trend began:

Given this biggest hits were released around 2011, his resurgence runs in parallel to the viral trend of the community-led bald-cap wearing fans.

3. What’s the crossover?

A bit early for a TLDR, but the learnings are:

• Fans will pilgrimage IRL for community. The effort is part of the magic.

• These moments are led by the community, nurtured by the creator. Support matters more than control.

• Values are often easy to define. Sometimes as simple as a bald-cap.

• Venues are platforms. The place matters. Presence becomes performance.

• It’s about shared intent and light identity. Not deep lore, just enough to say “we’re in this together.”

Pitbull seized the opportunity created by fan enthusiasm, nurturing a natural sense of community - just as the demand for the Switch 2 showed that physically picking it up, rather than simply receiving it the next day, became a shared experience that brought fans together.

4. How music is the ‘glue’ for community

If Pitbull’s resurgence shows us anything, it’s that people still want to show up for shared moments - physically or digitally. There’s already loads of great examples out there (might do an entire substack on those) but my overarching interpretation is as follows:

Physically

Pilgrimaging to a real-world event still means something. That sense of “I was there” becomes a badge of honour. But to draw people together, you need more than just a great stand-alone game. You need to define what being a player or listener in your world means to them. Is it about fun? Resistance? Shared memory? Once you know, let the community shape what that looks like. I mean you get something crazy, like a demand to play in a Walmart in Alaska, or Boaty McBoatface…

Even if you think you know, I’d ask everytime. Use polls, DMs, forums. If the answers seem mad or satirical, good - lean in. Pitbull did.

Artists are still cultural routers. Bigger venues can have big artist providing they are keen, but more nuanced presences I think would be equally as effective here, as long as they are genuinely happy to be there and are having a good time. Otherwise, a considered playlist will nail the vibe and catalyse nostalgia or future association.

I went to see Linkin Park on the weekend - on the way home I went past a fast food shop that was blasting Hybrid Theory. It was busy - well done on the research!

Digitally

I know there’s lots of costs with physical events + travel requirements, but your community need a platform somehow. Discord or YouTube Premiers are already incredible places to host a community, and launching parallel-gaming events here could be a move. Could be a bedroom set from an artist who’s a fan of the franchise live streamed, even just a cameo. Even events on the hours leading up until midnight, such as puzzles, riddles, AMA. Posting previous mixes containing gamemotifs. You could get incredible qualitative feedback from this too.

If it’s a live service game, make the midnight moment tangible. Drop a time-limited music cue. Flip the menu music for launch night. Add a toggleable ‘launch era’ homepage track players can switch back to - like a sonic Blue Peter badge. Something small, but full of meaning.

Pitbull had a resurgence because people could see themselves in what he represented - and he allowed them the tools (bald caps, suits, memes) to express it. Games can do the same, and I think music is the glue.

TLDR

Recent successes with Nintendo Switch 2’s midnight launch and Pitbull’s live show resurgence both show what happens when fans are given a platform and permission to show up, lean in, and express themselves.

The community sets the tone. The creator’s job is to listen and amplify. Music is a key tool that binds it all together.

Make those moments that’s worth taking a picture of…with a Kodak of course.

As a heads up, I’m aware of the art plagiarism issue as well as the news article suggesting Bungie are stopping all paid media. This article is purely about music’s role in game identity and I’m using Marathon’s marketing assets as an example, rather than a commentary on the game, the companies involved or their practices. Consider my praise of the aesthetic as a nod towards ANTIREAL’s impressive work.

1. What is Marathon?

2. How Marathon are designing their aesthetic.

3. ….but that’s not what fans on TikTok think

4. Fan Refraction

1. What is Marathon?

Marathon is an upcoming sci-fi extraction FPS (first-person-shooter) developed by Bungie, set to release in September this year (maybe…) for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Drawing from the universe of Bungie's original 1990s Marathon trilogy, this new iteration reimagines the series as a PvPvE (player versus player versus environment) experience.

I’ve enjoyed everything that Bungie has put out so far, including the Halo and Destiny series, and therefore there’s a bit of bias here. I’m writing this substack having not played Marathon at all - which I think is important given that I’m making sense of pre-gameplay perspectives and community building using music.

2. How Marathon are designing their aesthetic.

Quick reminder - Art direction IMO is made up of both the audio and visual aspects and these go hand in hand.

If I put myself into the shoes of a potential fan pre-release of a game, I’m going to be given a few things to look at by the game company. My whole thing when checking these out is ‘what feeling do I get’ as well as ‘why am I getting that feeling’ - so its not complex, however it’s one step further. It’s probably because I’ve shattered all true emotions having to analyse music inclusion all the time for the last decade, but here we are.

Firstly, the visuals are striking and unique. With a combination of Bungie’s design team lead by Joseph Cross, cinematic direction from Alberto Mielgo of ‘Love, Death + Robots’ fame (and many more) as well as heavyweight inspiration and designs from ANTIREAL - it has created some tasty dreamy imagery.

Marathon’s YouTube is probably the best place to go to learn how they want to demonstrate their curated aesthetic. Their OST is uploaded here which includes artists like Ryan Lott of Son Lux, who’s futuristic, dark, industrial, electronic ambience mirrors the mysterious potential of Marathon and the subtext of its narrative.

The highest viewed video here is unsurprisingly their announce trailer:

To be honest, the 8 minute cinematic trailer is another important and impressive watch.

As soon as I saw the caterpillars co-operatively building the mechanical body, and the connotation of the ‘perfection’ of biology being a component in manufacturing something synthetic, with the 4 million K resolution, I believe the world building could be as impactful as the instant-dopamine colour palette my eyes got to feast on.

I’ve had to concentrate in order to spot the music choices made here for two reasons:

1. The visuals are distractingly impressive.

2. The music is so aesthetically accurate to what I imagine with gameplay like this that it’s almost hidden.

Outside of the ongoing backlash, both of these things are exceptional combinations of visuals to audio. If they keep up with the same impactful gameplay like Halo 4, Reach, or Destiny’s series had (love them all for story + graphics + sound design, come at me) AND it actually gets released, then I think we’re in for a treat.

The biggest curveball is the interpretations of the art style through fan-made videos on TikTok. Let’s investigate that.

3. ….but that’s not what fans on TikTok think

My theory here is that there are 2 types of aesthetics to a game. There’s the game aesthetic as the developers/publishers intended, and then there’s the community’s interpretation of it too. ‘Authored’ and ‘Refracted’ identities, respectively.

As the ‘save the date’ marketing started bubbling around on socials a few months ago, I noticed a fair few ‘fan edit’ TikTok’s where they were taking the visuals from the trailer and cinematics and overlaying their own content. Here’s an example:

@hol.leeMARATHON X RADIOHEAD || everything in its right place x monologue ~ #marathonthegameeditglitch #marathonthegameedit #marathonthegame #marathonbungieglitchedit #marathon #newgame #glitchmarathon #marathonglitch #editmarathonthegame #edit #editmarathon #fyp #zyx #bungie #blackbirdmarathon #voidmarathon #locusmarathon #glitchmarathon #Durandalmarathon #ozymandias #ozymandiasedit #ozymandiasmarathon #everythinginitsrightplace #marathonradiohead #radiohead #radioheadeverythinginitsrightplace

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In this example, TikToker’s are familiar with Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ often being used alongside high quality, cinematic, sci-fi edits. I’d go as far to say that TikTok’s interpretation of ‘Kid A’ is no longer as the band intended, but how it has consistently been used inside of this platform and its new context applied. Tiktok does this because sounds serve the same function as hashtags, helping search and categorise themes. This is definitely a complement given how positively ‘Kid A’ has been used over TikTok.

If you’re a parent thinking your teenage child has an eclectic music taste - pair their playlists against TikTok’s charting tracks and you’ll likely see a pretty sizeable overlap.

So with this in mind, how does the game’s community and its fanbase communicate? Fans refract.

4. Fan Refraction

Yes that’s right I’m coming up with more terms. Brace yourself. Here’s my line of thinking.

If a game has a strong identity (both music and visual), it helps a fan figure out what is similar to the game as well as what is different. This gives the community an opportunity to transcend this game beyond its original context as it is clear what is new or not. Fans do this in may ways, through fan fiction, cosplay, and in this case - Fan Refraction.

Fan Refraction is a completely made up term given to non-commercial pieces of fan-made content where new music is used that reflects a personal interpretation, or even an outward expression, of the impact the game has had on the fan. I’d say this is a sub-category of User-Generated Content (UGC) and deserves to be separate as it has a specific origin and purpose for existing.

I believe that if a game does not have a strong visual or musical identity, it is less likely you’ll see Fan Refraction.

Here are 4 examples of how the cinematics of this game has been used in fan edits with completely different music associations.

Basement Jaxx - ‘Where’s Your Head At’ (Remix)

@rucketcompESCAPE WILL MAKE ME GOD #MarathonGame#Bungie#ExtractionShooter#Runners#edit #dontflop #targetaudience #goviral #fyp

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Tame Impala ‘New Person, Same Old Mistakes’

@pathsmemesESCAPE WILL MAKE ME GOD #marathon #marathonthegame #bungie #halo #destiny #gaming #edit #editing

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Pote Baby ‘It Is What It Is’

@cashcarrascoThe marathon cinematic felt like a new episode of love,death and robots. #4k #marathon #bungie #gaming #marathonthegame #fyp song-it is what it is - Pote Baby

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Leaving Time ‘Slip’

@nimzylolTHE ART DIRECTION IS BEAUTIFUL #Marathon #Bungie #bungiedestiny #destiny #destiny2 #halo #haloinfinite #haloreach #gaming #game #gamer #gametok #videogames #edit #edits #videogameedit #marathonedit #foryou #foryoupage #foryourpage #fortnite #fyp #fypシ #fy #fypage #viral #tiktok #gaming #gamingontiktok #gamingedit #gamingpc #tarkov #extraction #extractionshooter #fps #fpsgames

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Another example of Fan Refraction is Helldivers 2, and you can read my article touching on this here. I used the phrase ‘let the players choose’, and that stands up here in its more formally recognised form as Fan Refraction.

Going back to my definition of Fan Refraction, I used the word ‘non-commercial’ because if it was commercial - it would be an advert and therefore require clearance from the artist / record label / publisher etc. which is difficult to scale.

Instead, music (similar and different) on social media is explored and engaged with beyond the game through Fan Refraction, all of which can be celebrated and validated by the game. Marathon have been doing this by reposting a selection of the fan-made videos on their TikTok page.

So in a way, there is a very real strategy emerging from this. Lock in a strong identity, and celebrate/validate the fan refractions. Will we see this dual-identity strategy understood and nurtured in future games?

So…can you optimise this?

…Not really. As a game company, you can control your own authored identity of the game. Separately, you can ‘validate’ and ‘nurture’ the community by communicating and reposting - but it’s none of your business I suppose.

If I were a marketing director I’d use that categorisation to my advantage. Marathon has(/had?) the potential to encourage their community to run riot, which is a great way of having people engage with a game outside of playing it. Music used by the game and also by the community becomes a hashtag, and the data feedback from understanding and acknowledging authored and refracted identities can be an unspoken community dialogue worth exploring.

TLDR:

A game needs to have a strong aesthetic, so its clear what juxtaposes it. This gives purpose to the fans of reimaginging the world in their own way (like personalising) as well as the game still having a striking and defining presence in its own right. These two identities - authored and refracted - can exist in symbiosis.

This style of fan-made content I’ve named Fan Refraction. This uses music both curated by the game, as well as fan-made selections, as tools to showcase fandom and in turn use music like a ‘hashtag’. This categorisation may help games, artists and communities empathise and communicate better.

For this Substack, I’ve seen a couple of announcements come from partnerships between the music and gaming industries that I want to compare my notes and observations to, and what better way to formulate my understanding than to write one of these bad-boys. I think there is one big thing that we are forgetting.

1. Reactional AI partners with Ninja Tune

2. FC 25 partners with Spotify

3. Where’s the magic?!?!?!

1. Reactional AI partners with Ninja Tune

"Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them." (Plato, 428 - 348 BC)

Recently, Ninja Tune (Very cool record label with artists such as Thundercat, Bicep and many more) partnered with Reactional Music - a company designing a framework for personalising music in interactive digital environments, such as video games. You give them music, they will customise it for the required scene. Here’s an example of how this looks:

Some of this I can’t quite tell if the music was mapped to the characters movement manually as the timing lands on the beat, as if it has been decided ahead of time - and perhaps that’s a part of the technology where it identifies whats upcoming with pre-rendering and adjusts tempo ahead of time. Either way its application has done its job!

This is not the same as the ‘Generative AI’, which creates ‘new’ recordings by listening to a bunch of other stuff, pinching elements of the recordings (& songs), and making songs. These Generative AI’s use a Large Language Model (LLM) which is a collection of things that already exist that the AI will look at for references. They cannot make something new, instead it recycles all the recordings it can listen to and make something that sounds new. So if you knew your own song had become part of this impacted cellular mass of sound, contorted beyond consent, and then thumbed into YouTube for someone elses monetisation, you wouldn’t be happy.

So the fact that Reactional AI are using a collection of already existing music to adapt, rather than create, makes sense. Removing admin is a better use of AI. Working with a label partner in this way, or using a closed approved source of data for the Large Language Model (LLM) makes for a more ethical and legitimate usage of AI (which basically isn’t stealing - standards are pretty low aren’t they?)

To summarise: Great to use AI to implement, rather than create. However…where’s the curation? How can you create unifying moments if everything is different for everyone? I will come back to this.

2. FC 25 Partner with Spotify

"The poet’s function is to describe, not the thing that has happened, but the kind of thing that might happen... according to the law of probability or necessity." (Aristotle, 384–322 BC)

Another announcement is that FC 25 has now integrated with Spotify for Australia and Saudi Arabia territories. So at any point across the menus, you can bring up the native Spotify player and play from a huge selection of tracks on Spotify, including podcasts.

I’m trying to put myself into the shoes of the team here to understand more about what this direction could mean. Giving players more access to wider range of tunes and bridging accessability across applications for a more fluid interactive experience? Okay, sounds nice.

But…what about the famous FC 25 tracklistings that were specifically curated for these games? And lest we begin chapter 3 of this substack…

3. WHERE’S THE MAGIC?!?!?!

“The poet who pleases everyone is the one who blends the useful with the sweet, delighting the reader while instructing him.” (Horace, 65-8 BC)

As someone who spent a decade watching decisions pass the music industry in this area, I think we need to keep our eyes on the prize. The magic is curation.

There was a LinkedIn post about a guy saying the music industry is starved of innovation (which I cannot find anywhere!), and that their focus is to find new ways for people to engage with music. The biggest opportunity appears to be curation (well, to me anyway), where the ‘infinity’ of music in streaming services causes choice paralysis, and that standing out amongst infinity is tough without it.

With this in mind, how do you stand out here? Are we thinking technology is going to beat curation?

—Thoughts on FC 25 x Spotify

A game can decide its creative musical direction - and therefore curate its music along with the story. If a game’s music selection is via Spotify, then Spotify are doing the curating for you. They take the basic or historical input from the user and dish something back to you, and Spotify love to give you the same thing.

Functionally, I’d be interested to see how they ensure they don’t just turn this into a playlist. I’d be more interested to see if they’ve both decided to consider played music in FC as ‘streams’ rather than a ‘syncs’.

Back to the creative - Let’s not forget how monumental those FC & older FIFA playlists were. I wrote about this before - these curated playlists were the culture vessels for those players who came across bands like Kasabian and may artists through another means than traditional music marketing. That’s so important, because gamers can be part of the FC universe beyond playing the game by listening to the playlist, rather than listening to everything.

If players can listen to anything, then how do people have a unified shared experience through music? Because I always got the impression that songs selected for this playlist was the cultural language shared amongst players. It was the nod given to you after you put it on the aux. Without it, will it have as much of a cultural impact?

Brandon Polite’s 2019 study (read here) argues that musical experiences can be genuinely shared, showing that joint listening enhances both personal enjoyment and social connection, challenging the idea that music appreciation is purely private.

I feel that the biggest aspect of community is the joint experience of a moment. Look at the cultural impact that Tony Hawks had, or how we felt watching ‘Mad World’ in Gears 3, or even listening to ‘Dearly Beloved’ from Kingdom Hearts. Purposeful selection made Quentin Tarantino’s films excellent. It made Hideo Kojima’s games iconic. Look at my Substack catalogue for 1.5 years worth of examples. If you can’t share these moments…what happens to the long term impact of that community, and therefore that game?

@luthe2ndI still get chills everytime I hear “Dearly Beloved” #KingdomHearts #kingdomhearttiktokers #kingdomheartsmemes #crying #fyp #dearlybeloved #nostalgia #nostalgic #gamer #gamerdad #dad #sora #playstation #christmasmorning

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— Thoughts on Reactional AI & Ninja Tune

To start, if you are an artist on Ninja Tune, then you’re currently not competing with infinity through the medium of any of these Reactional AI inclusions. Great! However, if Reactional AI keep acquiring labels to work with then their next problem will be ensuring they can guarantee that your music will be listened to amongst the many other options they have.

Also, I need to figure out how music is ‘selected’ per scene within the Reactional AI system. As much as the engine concept is impressive, I’m interested to see how this is implemented per game, and will it cannibalise curation opportunities by being a ‘full-game solution’ rather than a contextual one?

—Solutions

For Reactional AI x Ninja Tune, I’d suggest they use these catalogue uses aesthetically for the ‘between’ aspects of the gameplay, but to ensure music is carefully selected for big storyline moments, cut scenes, or even in-game scenes that are memorable. Using this to ‘enhance gameplay’ with between-scenes is fine, but defo not for the big moments.

For FC 25 x Spotify, having the option to listening to anything through the same TV you’re playing the game through is fine, but ensuring that the curated FC 25 playlist is front and center is very important. Without that, FC lose their culture outside of the game itself. If they were to just host this integration for future games as an option rather than a requirement then that’s a good way for console players to listen to music without having to mute their TV and play it through another device (and justify FC’s streaming impact for this exact use case) - but I’d say it should stay there.

TLDR:

Reactional AI’s machine is impressive, and so is digitally-ergonomic integrations of Spotify - but it risks removing the unifying aspect that music-in-gaming’s real selling point is - curation. Providing games protect important curated musical elements within gaming experiences, then moderating this tech by keeping it optional and helpful is the best combo.

Live, Laugh, Curate.

In its wake, there has been a surge of interest that has even impacted the stock price of other games companies. However, there has been one feature that stood out to me that may well be detailing a longer-term strategy of Nintendo, one that the music industry should be aware of - the ability to use the controller as a mouse.

Nintendo already has multi-dimensional interfaces with their wii-mote ability to move the controllers freely in the air, as if manipulating Mario’s cap is done by magic with the flick of a wrist - but they decide to expect their users to find a flat surface to operate on instead? There must be an explanation.

Intead of my traditional format, I will innovate my typical structure and support my notion with chapters per reason.

My Theory

I believe that the Switch 2 is planning on becoming an educational & creative ‘workstation’ with an apple-style application interface and pipeline. Mouse support hints at desktop-style apps beyond gaming, aligned with Nintendo’s growing range of family-friendly tools. It’s a move to futureproof through reclaiming younger audiences and become the go-to, trusted tech for safe, healthy digital experiences.

My working below:

Demographic Data

Look at this chart.

Let’s break this one open for a sec - this data was based on 60,000 people and asking them to reply - how many under 13 year olds do you think are regularly checking and replying to their emails? yeah, exactly - this data can’t be perfect, but let’s go with it and see if it is telling us something within its imperfection.

Nintendo may have identified two pointers here:
1. That only 17% of its audience is under 18 (See small note above though)
2. That a biggest portion of players (25-34) likely grew up between the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube and the Wii - and as potential parental figures with young children, they are the ones that trust Nintendo.

So in order to acquire a larger percentage of a smaller market, does Nintendo think that the sale is made to the parents, rather than the children direct? If I were head of strategy, I’d do that.

….Where are the younger audiences then?

Probably Roblox and maybe Fortnite. So, is Nintendo going to position itself as the most trusted platform alternative?

If Nintendo offers a safer, more curated space for gaming, education, and creativity, it could become the go-to choice chosen by the older decision-makers for their kids, instead of games like Roblox or Fortnite (Unless you’re giving them an old phone without a sim card for their Roblox experience instead). Nintendo has the best shot at offering a better, purpose-built platform to compete here - and it needs creativity and education to truly win.

Graphics Upgrade

Nintendo have worked with Nvidia to make the Switch 2 graphic components affordable but greatly upscales even to 4k - which is a huge jump from the historic CPU-centric build. Nintendo has never focused on winning the graphics race, relying instead on strong IP and well-crafted exclusives.

So why push for 4K and upscaling now? My guess is because they’re preparing for more demanding creative applications.

They have lifestyle apps and merch already

Such as Pokemon Sleep - a sleep-tracking app, Pokemon Art Academy - learning to draw, and even Nintendo Labo - DIY cardboard kits for building interactive creations with the Switch, blending creativity, STEM learning, and gaming.

And then you check out their merch on the Nintendo Store and you see a collection of items including pencil cases, notepads, cups, plates, backpacks, and even an alarm clock.

Why is Nintendo leaning into lifestyle and everyday home elements? Well, it fits their values - using a trusted brand to create de-gamified home tools, now with the potential to digitise them through the Switch 2.

I suppose as a loose addition,the idea of a mouse functionality suggests that this is not something to be used in front of a TV, but actually to be used at a desk. Desks are more for studying and creation rather than the sofa, which is another supportive element here.

Right, let’s get onto Music.

Nintendo have done music-creation before

Nintendo has flirted with music interaction in the past with titles like Wii Music (ha), Daigasso! Band Brothers, and Mario Paint’s music maker laid early groundwork for music creation and experimentation within the Nintendo ecosystem. But with modern processing power, better input options (…like a mouse), and an audience that spans from young children to nostalgic adults, there’s space for something more: lets say…a Nintendo-branded Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)-lite experience, done in a very Nintendo-way.

It wouldn’t surprise me if there is an encouragement for a younger audience to compose melodies in a simplified interface, using Nintendo soundfonts and visual cues from their favourite franchises. Or creating beats and loops in themed environments, say, a Splatoon-inspired rhythm lab or Animal Crossing-style lo-fi workspace. You could even link music creation to gameplay, with custom tunes affecting mini-games or being shared across a safe, curated community, and Animal Crossing is a great way to do this…or even an open world Mario Kart.

Also, I don’t suppose you’ll remember Donkey Konga? With the two bongo drums? I guess we’ll look back at the limited functionality of this as we do when we see a Furby. After googling reviews of Donkey Konga 1 and 2 (yes, there is also a third game), I found the below comment online from 2006 giving their recommendation of which game to play. I thought I’d share it as it cracked me up.

I also don’t think video-editing is the creative angle Nintendo will take.

There is an important feature already delivered with the app - they have created their own internal ‘Discord’ where you can play along with friends and show them your screen, and the Switch 2 Camera even zooms in on your face and places it by the side of the game, turning you into a ‘youtuber’ style video for your friends. Great - video creation has been looked after automatically. What other creative avenues are available?

Music. Both in its access and creativity.

Nintendo has a Music App

Nintendo know full well that their music is incredibly valuable, so much that they have sacked in distributing this through third party services like Spotify. Instead, they made their own Music App with its own playlist curation too. Considering they partnered with Dua Lipa for a Pokemon Sleep ad, I think they know how to split their music strategy and the value of popular culture.

The Switch 2 has all the makings of a creative and educational home workstation, with music likely leading that creative push. Nintendo could build its own intuitive interface or even partner with third-party apps, given the third-party software lineup has been fairly impressive at launch.

Also, Imagine Jet Set Radio returning as an open-world remix playground, where you create stem-based versions of Hideki Naganuma’s tracks in public spaces. I know, I know…

I’m all out of tin foil now. Bye.

TLDR

Nintendo have got the hardware, a trusted ecosystem, a user base primed for creation and sharing, a growing lifestyle focus, and a mouse—everything needed to support Nintendo’s Switch 2 being a creative and educational workstation with a music focus. So how long until we see a Nintendo-style Ableton?

I’m sure we all know people that tell us they like a certain type of music just to look cool. I think people do this with video games too. I believe the brand of a game will eventually become important enough to positively influence its play time…we will see.

1. We All Know And Love Jet Set Radio <3

2. Jet Set Radio In Recent Culture.

3. The Psychology Of Recent Culture.

4. Becoming The ‘Gucci’ Of Legacy Gaming Music.

1. We All Know And Love Jet Set Radio <3

Okay okay I’m sure I don’t even need to give an intro to this game because we all know it, even if we haven’t played it…right? Well you’re getting one anyway.

Jet Set Radio is a game released in the year 2000 where you play as a member of a gang of graffiti-tagging inline skaters. Gameplay involves traversing a Shibuya-inspired section of ‘Tokyo’, listening to an underground radio station, spraying graffiti, coaxing rival gangs and dodging the police.

In 2025 that description alone comes with a built-in OFCOM complaint - back then, this was the kind of street fantasy that gave teenagers a reason to stay in, shaping their music tastes and laying down a gaming legacy. Aesthetically through both the music and the cel-shaded designs, this game is the definiton of late 90’s counter-culture.

It won a bag of awards when it was released and has been hailed as a cult classic that was ahead of its time. Yet despite the critical acclaim, its commercial performance was modest - selling only 40,000 copies in its first week, with the 2003 sequel Jet Set Radio Future moving 80,000 in its first 6 months, likely impacted by the Dreamcast’s waning presence in global markets.

Since then, across all versions of the game combined, including the original and re-releases, sales of Jet Set Radio surpassed 1 million copies worldwide. This is a respectable recovery, but it still seems to be held in higher regard despite its sales.

I spotted an article from the game creative director Masayoshi Kikuchi that is worth noting for this substack:

“When I saw PaRappa The Rapper at TGS… I think that’s the first game with pop culture like that. They did it first. After that I decided to make a true game, not just a visual experience, that was actually for adults.”

A true game for adults…led by a team of 25 people who were mostly under the age of 25. Let’s keep this in mind.

The music is the real stand out for this game because it is instantly recognisable. A massive shout out to Hideki Naganuma, the mastermind behind the OST and the creator of this trademark sound you can hear into other games including Ollie King, Sonic Rush and many many more.

The narrator of the game, as well as the host of the pirate radio station, is a character named DJ Professor K - probably one of the coolest characters in video game history. The music of Jet Set Radio plays a key role in cementing its pop culture status, blending Trip-Hop, Funk, and Electronic Dance, with American versions of this game containing Rock.

Look, you’ll need to check this out for yourself because the combination of innovative gameplay, art design, characters dripping with personality and most importantly a soundtrack that gels it all together goes above and beyond its aim, and I believe it’s instantly-recognisable soundtrack is what created its legacy.

2. Jet Set Radio In Recent Culture

I’m a bit of a digital hoarder, and curate all my playlists into folders. Don’t diagnose me please. I also do this for TikTok videos that I like. Have I ever gone back to look into some of these folders? No. But you never know!

I’ve made a ‘collection’ on TikTok called ‘Gaming Utility’. It was actually loosely based on a 4-part Substack series, which ended up becoming ‘Gamemotifs’. Now, I use this folder to save any videos that I feel merges popular culture with gaming.

Anyway, one trend which that has been really entertaining me are these videos of people spinning items on their hand, layering it with Jet Set Radio sound effects.

@risottow9I spinned the pipe #fyp #pipeflip #penspinning #spinned

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1.3m likes. Many, many videos with this sound effect - And you’ll notice a heap of top comments like this:

This is really interesting to me, not just because those spins are damn impressive! It always seems to be a top comment where someone is commenting their excitement to hear a Jet Set Radio sound effect. Surely this game’s cultural impact needs to be studied.

3. The Psychology Of Recent Culture.

On Spotify there is a feature called ‘Friends Activity’ where people can see what you’re listening to. Ever turned that off so no one can see your guilty pleasures? If so, this is for you.

Jet Set Radio’s deep connection to music gives it cultural weight, and we use cultural weight to tell others who we are - even if its real or not.

This was studied by Rentfrow and Gosling in a paper titled Message in a ballad: the role of music preferences in interpersonal perception. Here’s a quote from the abstract:

“…individuals use their music preferences to communicate information about their personalities to observers, and that observers can use such information to form impressions of others.“

Music is often the first thing young people talk about when they meet, using it to express identity and find common ground without needing to share personal opinions.

Gaming doesn’t currently function the same way with non-gamers. But with 85% of U.S. teens now playing games and near-universal engagement among children, it’s worth asking: in 10 years, will gaming take on a similar role in how young people communicate who they are?

I’ll put this into application - Let’s say you saw a video with a Roblox sound (of which there are a number of them) have you ever seen a comment saying ‘Roblox mentioned’? No, because we assume everyone knows Roblox, and maybe people don’t feel a need to associate themselves with the game.

But if you thought it was a smaller game that only you knew about…in fact you knew about it first…you were there when it came out and played it on day one…and it’s your favourite game but whatever…. we would have said it out loud in the comments section to tell others you know, so you can separate yourself away from those who don’t know with public declaration.

So why is that? And why are people saying that en-masse?

Given that sales have increased years after the game’s release, there is something important enough about Jet Set Radio that people are eager to reference it out loud.

I reckon if you tell people that you’ve recently booted up your Dreamcast to play Jet Set Radio, you’ll look like an absolute baller with immaculate taste. And you know what? You are right. (See my post on Night-Runners for a similar underground vibe).

Seldom do you see commentary on older games like you see in modern gaming today. Back in the day we found out about games through magazines and our mates. However, modern games are covered by influencers delivering one-liner summaries of you, your intelligence and your playing ability by your choice of game. Are older games safe-havens for protecting your identity?

4. Becoming The ‘Gucci’ of Legacy Gaming Music

My last few posts have been discussing the cultural lean away from PvP over the last year or so, and now I’m starting to spot that games are becoming brands to show off your identity, encouraging people to move away from new games until the heat has passed. This made me list out a few questions that I’m unsure how to answer:

• Are we so chronically and fearfully online that we are fantasising about the ‘good ol’ days’ of older, single player experiences?

• Does the brand of playing certain games influence if you play the game or not?

• Are there true fans of certain games, or do they say they like it to make them selves sound cool?

To swing this back to music, I bet this will sound familiar:

• Are we so chronically and fearfully online that we are fantasising about the ‘good ol’ days’ of older records? (See the resurgence of ‘older’ music)

• Does the brand of listening to certain music influence if you listen to music or not?

• Are there true fans of certain artists, or do they say they like it to make themselves sound cool? (Apparently 42% of us do this)

I think that liking Jet Set Radio is a brand, and people know it.

Is this a problem? No, of course not. Jet Set Radio is a culturally important game from the pre-online gaming days. It put everything on the line to stand out with a unique and dedicated aesthetic. I mean, look at Bomb Rush Cyberfunk…or Starjunk95? (Who’s on tour soon btw).

So I’m not talking about that aspect of it, but I am referring to the influence this game has on your identity that parallels music. I’ve not seen anything quite like it - and its great to see!

Does this suggest that making unique, dedicated experiences (including tailoring experiences for adults) enables games to pick up long term fandom and continuous delayed sales? Is this evidence of a long term gaming strategy where music is the cultural anchor?

I think both music and gaming have the same responsibility. Your dedication to a game is a reflection of your identity, as much as music is. I believe the conversation will slowly merge entertainment preferences to shortcut conversations about identity, but right now music still holds the trophy.

TLDR

I think that some people like Jet Set Radio for how it defines you, more than having history of the game, because it makes you look cool. The presence of this phenomena is an indicator that you made an outstanding game. We will see more of this.

This may be a personal reflection, but one of which I’ve seen paralleled amongst communities and talked about online. Right under my nose, there is a way that gamers seem to listen to music that I rarely see formally considered - players listening to music ‘liminally’ between checkpoints of a game, immersing themselves in the world and listening to music as it was originally created.

1. An Origin Story

2. ‘Liminal’ Music

3. Why 3am Minecraft?

4. What other examples?

1. An Origin Story

I recently stumbled upon a video about an early-access indie game called Motor Town. It started as a simple driving simulator a couple of years ago where players can perform driving tasks in a thriving world such as drive taxis, haul cargo in a truck, enforce rules as the police etc, but a few weeks ago it morphed into this sprawling role-play (RP) server with a couple thousand concurrent players.

Motor Town allows you to do many things at your own pace, and roleplay like this distract players from reality. Similarly explored in my Webfishing post, these games don’t leave us too busy like we feel exhausted after playing a game, but enough that lets us design our time in the game and give us moments to chill.
Which I like. Because I’m a filthy casual.

My favourite feature within this game is that you can listen radios from all over the world while you are driving (similar to that Radio.Garden app) and you can create your own radio stations too. The fact that I can play a game and drive from A to B listening to anything across the world suddenly makes me feel like I’m there and I’m actually live listening to it.

When I read this games description, the first sentence was "Sometimes the best therapy is a long drive with music"…

And then it clicked - I was able to listen to the music for the context it was originally intended because of the way I was able to listen to it.

2. ‘Liminal’ Music

Refresher for my Advertising, Main, Background, Optional and Gamemotif categories here.

Here’s my new category: Liminal Music. It arises during transitional or in-between moments in gameplay when players aren’t actively completing missions or following a scripted narrative, but instead find themselves in a reflective, open-ended space. It’s in these quiet, purposeful pauses that music takes on a meaning beyond simple background sound, like a long drive between objectives or sat watching an in-game sunset.

I’d say that providing that the music matches the mood, players can hear music in its original context without it being overshadowed by urgent gameplay demands or heavily curated story beats. Therefore, by allowing infinite time and space to enjoy these environments, liminal moments can exist.

Practically speaking, this is important to understand that the game acts as the music curator first, so there’s a benefit to ensuring that there is a music availability for moments like this.

3. Why 3am Minecraft?

Minecraft’s music…man. How does a game of such simplicity envoke such strong emotions? And why do we all remember playing this at 3am? And why does everyone keep saying they cry when they hear the music? We must solve this mystery.

Minecraft’s music stands with an average of over 100 million plays per track on its album, and this track should be familiar to those late night veterans:

I think the most relevant liminal moment I’ve found is when playing late-night Minecraft with friends. Imagine the scene - you’re playing late one night, working on your own fractional projects across your homebase. It’s 3am and all your pals are still online…and then ‘Mice On Venus’ starts playing. Even at the time, this delicate music is the definition of melancholy and its conclusive feeling seems to a common effect - stopping people in their tracks to enjoy the moment.

C418’s ‘Mice On Venus’ is a heartbreaking reincarnation of careless late nights, cooperative ad-hoc adventures and building without blueprints. Amongst the ambience were the voices of your friend’s ‘deep meaningful conversation’, or even your own reflective moment, while we were feeding chickens…or sobbing.

Having the ability to enjoy this music whenever it came on created room for nostalgia, because we remembered how we felt during these moments. If we were busy maybe we couldn’t have time for liminal moments like this. Here’s one of the many videos referring to Minecraft’s music.

@charsbackupcut the cameras, im done. #minecraft #whattheheck #stop

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The average Minecraft player age is currently 24, this means that these players were around 10 when Minecraft launched in 2009. By 2012, Minecraft already ranked as one of the most popular games, and even after all these years it has continued to retain its popularity.

For a game without a traditional storyline, it’s remarkable how many memories & emotion people associate with Minecraft. Could the absence of a main narrative have created open-ended, liminal moments that sparked a deeper sense of nostalgia?

Even without the power of nostalgia, these music moments would be less likely if the game was actively keeping you busy. Having the ability to stop and listen to the music is what creates the room for these moments so the music can be heard.

4. What other examples exist?

a) ‘Grand Theft Auto’

As much as I’ve banged on about GTA in recent weeks, there’s a great example in-built into the gameplay. During and between missions - you are able to listen to radio stations diegetically in the world where your player agency creates the context. You do spend a fair chunk of your time travelling between missions, often ending up in random spots when you finish and needing to find your way to the next start point. That setup encourages natural exploration and lets the environment lead you around.

GTA’s huge customisable options enhance immersion in the world and present more purposeful exploration of the world within GTA, catalysing even more liminial moments.

@wyse_0714Only true GTA gamers know this radio 😮‍💨 #fyp #foryou #viral #foryoupage #blowthisup #comedy #gta5 #gta5online #xyzbca #foru

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b) Majora’s Mask’s ‘Astral Observatory’

This is a slightly different utilisation of ‘Liminal Music’, as it is more like a ‘Liminal Space’. In the Nintendo 64 game The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, there is one area of the game that has a particularly outstanding soundtrack that is loved by much of the community - The Astral Observatory. It’s likely a combination of how different both the audio and visuals are for this area, but the below video of a 10 hour loop of this music has 1.4 million views with comments such as the below. It’s not uncommon for stories of people saying they stayed here for a while out of choice and forged their own liminal space.

Motor Town, Minecraft, GTA and Majora’s Mask are all great examples of how designing natural space between gaming missions allows us to truly listen to music. So it’s not how music fits with gaming here, it’s actually how gaming fits with music.

I think there is a real necessity for us to exist in gaming liminal spaces, the places halfway between boring yet unavoidable - like a commute. It’s real, but when we are enriched by a moment, such as driving over a beautiful view because we’re taking a break from the main storyline, it becomes a reflection of this valuable interaction people have with games.

This Substack has always focused on the space between music and gaming. Each side has its own domain, yet there’s a special magic in the overlap—some of it sparked by those who choose to explore it on their own.

TLDR

Liminal Music is music listened to during those quiet, in-between moments where players aren't rushing missions but are simply existing in the game world. Whether it's cruising in Motor Town with global radio stations, getting hit by nostalgia at 3am in Minecraft or naturally finding your way to the next mission location - these pauses let music shine in its original context.

Turns out sometimes the best soundtrack is the one you hear when you’re doing... well, nothing in particular.

You can read about the whole chat on

Points I’d like to make:

• GTA VI will get attention

• What is a ‘use’ of music in GTA VI?

• Is GTA VI a ‘digital space’?

• Two Possible Outcomes

1. GTA VI will get attention

I can make a fair assumption that this game will get a particular and unique level of attention. Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V), is already one of the most commercially successful and influential video games of all time and the whole series has grown in popularity across the years.

Some games of note are GTA III (2001), GTA: Vice City (2002) and GTA: San Andreas (2004) selling 14.5 million, 17.5 million and 21.5 million units respectively.

For perspective, GTA V has sold over 185 million copies and has generated at least $7.7 billion in revenue (that’s $7,700,000,000 as written in full). That’s almost one dollar per person on the planet.

Below is a graph detailing some idea of the projected size of this game.

Also for reference, GTA V was already the most expensive game to develop ever…now Rockstar is rumoured to spend 9 TIMES this on the next game.

GTA VI feels particularly relatable because it mirrors a world where people are players—both in-game and in reality. I’m not talking about the over-the-top crime elements but rather the way the game reflects human beings and their interactions, choices, and a living, reactive world, mobile phone uses, fashion etc.

So what does attention mean for music in GTA VI? My thinking is that the sheer size of this game will lean into culture and make video games a topic of conversations for music utility in gaming:

1. Firstly, GTA V is already a dominant chunk of the video game market, and getting involved with GTA VI is an easy way to get involved with a big portion of gaming without having to understand the breadth of video games and their history for more curated and granular placements.

2. Secondly, I expect there will be an instance where a track (especially during a key scene) will chart. That will lead to headlines, and further evidence the power of GTA VI in its influence with global cultures.

3. And lastly (and most importantly) this will likely lead to more rightsholders and artist discussions. Does a game’s massive revenue relate to its valuation of music? Well, Heaven 17 have publically raised their disapproval of the percieved valuation of music inclusions in video games and its likely this new financial forecasting is only going to make that conversation more important to have.

My final thought here is that GTA acts as a curator, shaping its world with a strict narrative vision. Rockstar is building an entire platform and ecosystem designed to capture attention through storytelling and the game's sandbox experience. They are known for avoiding partnerships and brand integrations that don’t align with their world. While Rockstar can get wacky and could afford to make deals, I’m confident that GTA VI won’t include partnerships that feel out of place. For example, you’d never see something like Godzilla wearing basketball shoes and playing in Fortnite (unless it was through mods).

2. What is a ‘use’ of music in GTA VI?

I’ve spent the early parts of my SubStack discussing the taxonomy of music placements in video games because it is still so new and ever changing. Where before, understanding the ‘parameters’ of how music is used in a film/TV is fairly straightforward - you know it will be ‘x’ seconds long, played during this scene, with this context. Great. Now you know how the ‘use’ of music is received by the audience.

But in a video game where there is player agency (where a player can do what they want at any time) - there is suddenly a possibility that someone could buy and complete the game and never come across the music. Or maybe it’s all they listen to! So how do you measure that?

Suddenly the traditional metrics are a guide and no longer gospel. For now it takes an understanding of each game and its history in order to truly gauge (and potentially value) how music is going to be used. That’s pretty much why I started this Substack - that knowledge is valuable in itself.

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SUBSTACK SPOILER ALERT - I’ve got another one to add to the taxonomy soon. You are welcome.

Valuation of a ‘use’, is a whole different conversation. I previously mentioned about Heaven 17 saying their offer for GTA VI inclusion of ‘Temptation’ was too small in comparison to the revenue of the game, even if it was $7,500 per writer (3x writers = $22,500).

Let’s run with this - this figure came from the publisher, but there’s no mention of the record label’s part. If this ended up being a similar figure, the total licensing figure for this could be $45,000 (read further in this reddit thread) and the band likely would have received more money from the label too.

If GTA VI paid $45k per track and licensed 1,000 tracks for GTA VI (that’s a guess) - that would be $45 million in music licensing, which is 2.25% of their projected game budget. So it’s not out of the question given how important music is to GTA VI.

This calculation made me think - how do you even value a ‘use’? Regardless of what the fee was, how do you put a one-time value on something where its difficult to assess the impact it has? If you want to gauge how much something is being used, it’s best to have some firm data to prove it. How can that be done?

3. Is GTA VI a ‘digital space’?

In the UK, venues with a ‘PRS’ sticker pay songwriters when they play music—nice! (PRS is the UK’s Performing Rights Organisation (PRO) but many exist worldwide). Should games with large-scale, hard-to-track music use be treated as ‘digital venues’ - paying a blanket license to use and report music? Fair question, but the short answer is… not really.

There’s a big difference between “Can I use your music in this way?” and “I already used your music in this way”. One of the advantages of the current direct-negotiation system is that artists and rights holders maintain control over how their music is used and represented before they are used within these spaces. However, the downside of not having a digital PRO is that there’s no ongoing reporting of in-game music uses. Note: No game has a digital PRO system to my knowledge, this is just me chatting about it.

Having represented and defended artists’ rights for over 10 years 💁 I think having permission and parameters first is important because usages can shape perception, brand alignment, and even long-term career impact.

Let’s put it this way - If your band was called ‘I Hate Bread’, and your band’s message was strongly anti-bread, but was used for a launch of a digital bakery, you wouldn’t be so happy…but I can see the value of ensuring that music used in anyway that enriches an experience should reward the artist. Here’s some bread for reference.

If there’s any controversy or concerns about valuation, but treating GTA VI as a ‘digital space’ seems impractical, is it time for a new framework for a game of this size?

4. Two Possible Outcomes

Firstly, it could be that the launch of this game and the sheer projected size of this game triggers a conversation to have both music and gaming industries work towards the best creative freedom and commercial opportunity for both of them in a new way.

For artists, once you’ve got your fee from Rockstar, there are no additional royalty for in-game plays—despite potentially huge exposure. It’s great publicity (and you’ll likely get out-of-game income from streams etc) but the precise benefits are hard to measure. It depends on so many variables, such as an in-game moment going viral, game campaign focus for added context, or how much an artist wants to lean into the inclusion. (I’ll probably run some numbers on track play count pre and post launch and figure out how valuable GTA’s exposure is)

Not every game should take the same approach - what works for one may not suit another. The ideal outcome of this conversation is a more nuanced dialogue between music and gaming, rather than a singular licensing model applied across all titles and use cases. There’s a vast difference between a game like GTA VI, with its expansive tracklist, and indie developers striving to craft original IP and compelling narratives. Recognising this distinction is crucial because gaming isn’t just 'a format'.

The second possible outcome could be that Rockstar may have already figured out a new approach to music inclusions and it’s about to set a precedent. Even if it is just for a smaller nuanced style of inclusion outside of what we know (score, radio usages, shops, clubs, etc) their arrangement of ‘categorising’ and ‘valuation’ will likely become the frame of reference for future games, especially of this size. Given that Rockstar are spending 2 billion dollars ($2,000,000,000 - and I thought Freddo’s were expensive these days) for this platform, they are the key holders for this discussion at this time.

So this is why I made that statement. I think that the music industry will want to change the game. Do I have an opinion on how? No. But do I think conversations will be had? Probably.

TLDR

GTA VI’s going to be big, and I think it will either change the landscape of music inclusions in gaming or start a conversation to amend the framework to allow for more commercial and creative accessability. Or not, but I think it will.

By the way, I’ll be at Guildford Games on 14th February on two panels, come say hi <3

I’m aware I could have spoken about the successful Fisch on Roblox, but I don’t want to. So there.

1. What Is Webfishing

2. Fishing mini-game lore

3. Why is Webfishing different?

4. Webfishing’s Got Talent

1. What is Webfishing?

Webfishing is an online game where you fish and chat to people. It was made by one developer who expected only 100 people to play it when in reality it sold 1.5 million units in the first 3 months.

Webfishing release in October 24 and peaked at around 24,000 players shortly after launch. It's had a small decline of players since but still averages 2,100 per day (and has done for 3 months) keeping it in the top 500 currently played games list within Steam. For reference, Steam contains over 73,000 games. I’d say that was pretty good retention, supported by an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ review on Steam.

The style of the game is somewhere between Club Penguin and Animal Crossing with a community focus and a strong sense of communal identity. Graphics wise, the aesthetic of the game feel like its been created by early-00’s developers - somewhere between N64/PS1 era and browser-based RPG games like Runescape.

2. Fishing mini-game lore

I love fishing mini-games. Specifically mini-games though… I’ve got nothing against good ol’ fishing, but there’s something genuinely fun about a fishing game within a game. Examples include Legend of Zelda series, Pokemon (erm…Gyarados?), Red Dead Redemption 2 (I literally kept a save of Chapter 3 so I can just fish when I feel like it), NieR: Automata, Final Fantasy XV, Spiritfarer - the list goes on.

Fishing simulators as a dedicated game is a whole different kettle of fish (ha-ha). Fishing simulators are not what I’m speaking about today. I think the reason why I like it as a mini-game is because I actively choose to take a break from the main story and enjoy the environment in a game. Funnily enough - developers built mini-games as a break from the main story too. They are designed to be passive, peaceful experiences with no time limits and easy enough so that you can chat with friends while playing. This is supported by this article from Washington Post:

In video games, fishing falls into what “Spiritfarer’s” creative director Nicolas Guérin calls a “nice chore,” activities that he says alleviate the “burden” of thinking and solving challenges.

I can hear it now “But Webfishing is a dedicated fishing game meeeeehhhhh”.

Yes you're right. Webfishing however has something culturally important for music x gaming.

3. Why is Webfishing different?

Webfishing feels like one giant mini-game. I saw a Reddit post that summarised it well: “A game where we can just jump in, have fun and leave knowing it's just a cool game tomorrow. It's got grind for us grinders, jokes for the jokers and mischief for the mischievous'“

Most importantly players are treating it like a chatroom that has a pre-established ‘vibe’. An example of this is that in any game you can join a lobby of max 12 players and, no matter where you are fishing, you can see the lobby text chat populate. It’s just the right amount of players to keep the game from feeling faceless while having something passive to do to keep your brain ticking over.

I think this video does this perspective further justice so for further reading jump in here:

4. Webfishing’s Got Talent

Firstly, the theme is great.

Secondly, here’s a fun thing about Webfishing - it has a mini-game. You can buy a guitar and play whatever you want. They have built it in a way that it’s possible to play anything. Just like a real guitar. Who would have thought?

The system lets you select which notes on the guitar you want to play, which you can manually strum with your mouse on the right hand side. You can then save these ‘chords’ as pre-sets on numbers 1-9 on your keyboard. This means you can switch between chords with one hand while strumming with the other - just like a real guitar. This in-depth mechanic enables players to perform songs easily.

I saw this clip on TikTok of people playing songs and people congregating over this too:

@imannamollyclose enough welcome back club penguin #webfishing #cozygames #indiegames

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I know, the term ‘online chatrooms’ have always had a mixed reputation. As we are more and more protective over language and censorship online (not just the parents but the gaming companies too) we remove language agency and replace it with… well… music. That would make sense to me. So without actually speaking it looks like people can unify over songwriting.

The last time I’ve seen something similar to this was MyCoke, an MMO that looked just like Habbo Hotel where you can make your own mixes, perform it to a crowd, and earn ‘bottle caps’ based on the audiences rating.

Here’s an article titled “Webfishing players use in-game guitar for pop music ‘concerts’“ detailing how players are covering famous songs from artists like Blink-182, Radiohead & Green Day etc. (Publishers - I am not helping you solve that one, nor am I a grass!) …but what about an artist writing their own music?

I have made a bit of an optimistic prediction with this game. My original thought when this was just gaining some virality was that an artist could make a short series of videos where they perform a riff/song, receive good reviews (similar to what ‘slip away’ did on TikTok), and then release it properly as a track. A moment like this could easily be the ‘theme’ of the game across socials.

If this happened, this artist could easily write for other cozy games or even original lofi-style music, perhaps even featured on lofi girl, college music or anything similar. The playlisting count for this genre is generous from listeners yearning to emulate relaxation through sound.

The reason why I think this would work in Webfishing is that people know that this game is a place to go to genuinely have conversation with people in a relaxed and pressureless environment. Anything to avoid looking like a genuine marketing strategy is a win.

Despite my prediction being possible (but highly specific), a more important realisation came from this thought - I think there will be more online social spaces like Webfishing. To me, Webfishing is the start of a revival of digi-social communities - one where authentic creativity and therefore music sits at its core. I mean, even Brockhampton met through a forum. Will we see genuine creative contributions through music supersede ‘ranking’ and how will that value look?

In these social spaces authenticity is the currency that establishes artists value. Engaging with these spaces without a curated partnership could be a move. I can’t tell them how. This depends on who they are and what they’re like, but examples include Post Malone’s interview about Hunt: Showdown. Post Malone didn’t need to do this interview outside of the partnership - but did, and that’s the difference between the partnership and non-curated presence in the gaming world.

However, for an emerging artist, this is where your story could begin. With the resurgence of social games, music mechanics will get better, and audiences will be varied. Contributing in a fun and engaging way and having content ride any viral waves can’t be out of the picture for modern artists with a multi-faceted identities.

When finding your audience, there are always plenty more fish in the sea. Online social spaces like future Webfishing-style spaces can help you reel them in! (Okay I’ll stop now).

TLDR:

Webfishing is a simple game that accidentally sold 1.5 mil units, where you fish and chat. It has become an authentic and established chatroom/chillout ‘space’ for gamers. There is an in-built guitar function where players can play anything.

Webfishing’s sleeper success suggests a demand for genuine social spaces and therefore passive creative contributions (like music) rather than competitive play. Leaning into future social games without curation could catalyse the origins of an artist identity, or even reward established artists with a valuable authentic moment.

I wanted to take a moment to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s tuned in to my Substack over the past year.

This Substack has been a learning portfolio for me - a space to document my thoughts and discoveries as I continue exploring the intersection of music and gaming. My aim has shifted from identifying trends to driving meaningful change by applying a taxonomical & contextual approach to optimise music placement and utilization in gaming, highlighting its true value for all parties involved. I’ve attempted to do this in my own way, using examples, strange parallels to lampposts and a bag full of gifs.

Looking back on 2024, sharing my conceptual rambles here has been a real joy and I’m so grateful for all the incredible conversations I’ve had as a result. Articulating the ideas that cross my mind every few weeks - and hearing your thoughts in response - has been an amazing experience and I’m genuinely excited to see where the industry is headed next year. After last week’s Game Awards, can’t say I’m not excited!

There are already some big changes in store for 2025, both in my career and my mindset. It feels like everything is moving in a direction I’ve been discussing throughout the past year. On that note, I’m thrilled to share that I’ll soon be leaving my full-time role at Sony Music to join Feel For Music as Head of Music & Gaming Partnerships. As much as I’ve loved my time (and especially the people) at Sony Music, I can’t wait to get stuck into the new role in January.

Wishing you all a great holiday season. May it bring you your fair share of whatever makes you happiest! After the break, I’ll be dedicating time to my new role and likely picking up these posts again later in January. As always, my inbox is open if you want to chat, and I’ll be back in 2025 with more fresh takes, premonitions, and subtext deciphering than even Deckard Cain couldn’t handle.

For those curious about the journey so far, I’ve put together a summary of every post I’ve written this year, along with a short takeaway for each, because each post carries its own message.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Until 2025 <3

2024 TLDR:

1. Music and/or Gaming - Hi

2. Riot Games are becoming a record label - IP is king.

3. oh…so Fortnite Festival looks interesting - Epic Games are aiming to be the digital event space of the gaming world.

4. Fortnite Festival's potential...in the eyes of a music exec - Potential UMG partnership. Festival ‘career’ mode could work.

5. Needledrop - Halo 2 - Nile Rodgers as a genius producer made heavyweight excellent musical soundtrack decisions, leading to commercial success.

6. Why was Drake & Travis Scott playing Fortnite so important in Fortnite’s success? - Music has cultural capital. Big video games value this.

7. Creative music ideas for GTA VI (pt.1) - Rock Show - GTA VI could have a house party feature for emerging rock artists with template development.

8. Needledrop - Red Dead Redemption 2 - 1. D’angelo is amazing. 2. Storylines in and out of game are important music catalyst.

9. The Impact Of Background Music in Video Games - Categories of music placements in gaming can help determine ‘how’ to use it, or even valuation.

10. Needledrop - "Exile Vilify" by The National x Portal 2 - Secret in-game music has catalysed music fandom.

11. Roblox Music Partnership - My Thoughts - UMG’s Beat Galaxy review. ‘Be First, Or The Best’. Innovation or excellence wins.

12. Firewatch’s Boombox - Very cool interactive music use with contextual lore. I accidentally carried around a boombox to avoid fear/loneliness, and listened to a track multiple times.

13. Play-to-Win: Larian Studios' lessons for gaming partnerships - make great gaming experiences first and monetise second. Same for artists.

14. Max LL & 'Spiritfarer' - A Composer Analysis - Players wanting to replicate the ambience of a game in real life listen to game soundtracks.

15. Artists & Composers: Goals and the weight of the public eye - Composers work in projects, rather than ‘always-on’ inc. social media, which feels like a healthier, consistent way to be an artist beyond 2024.

16. TLDR: Games x Music Podcast feature (2.4.24) - Diving into categorisations and examples of music use in gaming.

17. The day & night dichotomy of Need For Speed: Heat's soundtrack - Example of game curating two opposing aesthetics using music.

18. Needledrop - 'Need For Speed: Underground 2' - 20 years on, excellent in-game music inclusions grow its commercial value through streaming numbers.

19. Creative Music Ideas for GTA VI (Pt.2) - Nightclubs - GTA’s dance musc influence & history can be curated into enriching in-game music experiences.

20. Hades is a beautiful game that reminded me that other things are ugly - Cosmetic achievements and music-related narratives are optional, artistic, and make for rewarding and replayble games.

21. Helldivers 2: Tips for hard-core community partnerships - Gaming fandom’s are unforgiving. Thorough research and thoughtful application are necessary for music partnerships.

22. Needledrop - 'Destiny 2' - Even a few quiet chords can have a significant impact when contextualized within a game.

23. Ronnie Radke could be a video game villain - Controversial musicians can thrive in gaming environments when applied correctly.

24. Gamemotifs - Recurring melodies and soundbites in games have a parallel value in popular culture (but are only indicators and not opportunities).

25. The Unseen Legacy of Y2K Gaming Music - Gaming experiences have exclusively inspired a generation of artists & decision-makers, embedding gaming culture into contemporary art and media.

26. Aesthetic music placements in games - Night-Runners - Smaller games can represent subcultures, offering niche artists a digital home

27. A Fresh Take: Reimagining Charli XCX’s 'BRAT' Campaign in Roblox - Upgrading the Roblox/Charli XCX’s collab by including an optomised lead up.

28. How to get anyone to listen to Kasabian - Video games can reach audiences traditional channels may miss.

29. Roblox's Brands Experience: My Thoughts - Using the latest ‘portal’ ad placements in Roblox to make a unique music scout event.

30. Needledrop - Outer Wilds - Games can use music as a storytelling tool.

31. Hunt: Showdown & The Port Sulphur Band - In-game music killing it out of game - Fandom beyond the game can be achieved when music becomes a separate but parallel tool.

32. TLDR: Music & Gaming interview with Eric Tan (8.10.24) - Music expression is transactional, but encouragement creates long term value…and other notes.

33. How video games can 'Encourage' Music - Fortnite Remix: The Prelude - Fortnite could promote development artists through smaller, narrative-driven in-game events.

34. Chill AF Music in chill AF games - ft. 'Satisfactory' - Games escape the infinity of Spotify’s music choice by curating music to match their aesthetic.

By the end of this Substack, I’d hope you would understand the scope of this opportunity, and perhaps play Satisfactory if you wish to have all your spare time deleted. Just like starting a factory, you need to know exactly where to start and where to end, so here are the contents of this one:

1. So what is Satisfactory?

2. Satisfactory’s Boombox

3. My idea to take this further

1. So what is Satisfactory?

Satisfactory is a first-person factory-building game developed by Coffee Stain Studios (who also made Goat Simulator and Sanctum). This game is ranked as ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’, with 96% positive reviews from over 160,000 Steam players.

This is a resource-management game where you…manage resources. Let me explain.

Resource management games challenge players to gather, allocate, and optimize resources to achieve specific goals. In Satisfactory, this gameplay is woven into a narrative where you play as an employee of FICSIT Inc., a massive corporation tasked with terraforming an alien planet. Your mission is to extract resources, construct factories, and automate production to meet the company’s escalating demands. Balancing efficiency and creativity, you build sprawling industrial systems while fulfilling vague and humorous corporate objectives.

Depending on your ability to plan/willingness to rebuild/OCD, you can build some impressive automations given the ability to build anywhere on the giant map.

For reference, the music was composed by Jannik Reuterberg aka Sleeper's Delight.

The developers deliberately avoid adding certain mechanics, like creatures attacking your factory, to maintain its design philosophy. This game has no time requirements either, encouraging you to build at your own pace, with your own designs and in your own location, as you can literally build anywhere.

But ultimately, its quite a relaxing game. There is a clear expectation of what the game wants the player to experience with this game, despite it having the versatility.

It’s relaxing enough that you can approach a little alien ‘doggo’, befriend it and have it hang out with you. You can also buy a ‘FICSIT’ themed mug as an equippable item to digitally sip on a fictional beverage while you look at all the hard automation work in the factory you just made, or just by taking a break while you figure something out.

Long story short - the pace of the game is determined by the player. Pace and ambience are closely linked, which makes me think that music can be an important component in Satisfactory.

2. Satisfactory’s Boombox

During the game you can recycle unwanted parts to get ‘tickets’ and with these ‘tickets’ you can buy cosmetic items that you don’t really need, but help you make your factory look nicer or neater. Tickets get you items like street lamps, roofs, colour packs, but also a boombox.

Alongside the boombox, you can ‘buy’ soundtracks (using tickets again), most of which are from the games that are also made by Coffee Stain Studios, or find more tapes hidden across the map. This is likely possible due to Coffee Stain Studios having access to the rights to the other games, whether this is full ownership, or permission to have derivative usages across games from the same publisher, or just by asking.

As we all know, if you want to listen to your own music while playing a game, you could easily go into your options, reduce the music volume, and play your own music on any device you want. But given the boombox is also a weapon, and there are tapes you can purchase/find in-game this item becomes more dynamic, and perhaps more enticing to stay ‘sound-on’.

So, what difference does it make that Satisfactory has other soundtracks in it?

Well, It’s a prompt.

Spotify’s approach to introducing new music to you is remarkably average—your homepage just rehashes what you’ve already been listening to, wrapped up in “new” playlists. Lately, I’ve been leaning more into YouTube-made or SoundCloud mixes for their unpredictability and fresh takes.

Games can be a prompt, or even a seal of approval, to identify music amongst the infinity of a streaming service. Games can ‘curate’ their own sound to align with how they want the player to experience the game. With this in mind, why would you stop at just soundtracks when the gaming company has an opportunity to choose what music their players can listen to through the game, using their curated influence?

3. My idea to take this further

How can Satisfactory enhance the boombox feature to encourage players to engage with in-game music? The goal is to offer a curated selection of tracks integrated into the game’s narrative, enriching the overall experience while using music as a unifying element to strengthen the sense of community among players.

This is also an opportunity for music that compliments the games aesthetic, and that integration is a great way of connecting with audiences that traditional music marketing campaigns may not.

I’ll split this between what music I’d choose and how I would integrate it.

—The Music

Chilled instrumental music, like Lofi Girl, would be a perfect fit for Satisfactory. It creates a relaxing, predictable atmosphere that complements the game’s pace and intent. The absence of distracting lyrics lets players focus on tasks like planning resources, while tracks like Lofi Girl’s Synthwave already align well with the game’s existing soundtrack.

This is ideally integrated into the game somehow to encourage to stay in-game for music. I would say that there would be a new cassette item from the shop that, when put into the boombox, would feel like it plays like the live stream does.

"Why not just embed the live stream?" you might ask - well, you can listen to this by lowering in-game volume anyway. However, the real focus is on getting the product right, alongside working out the rights and licensing to ensure a fair and mutually beneficial arrangement for every party involved. Having a set number of tracks delivered rather than a live stream would also give rights holders better data and clarity on usages, making a sync agreement more precise and easier here.

If Coffee Stain Studios / Lofi Girl wanted to add in some sort of achievement to acquire this, similar to what they do for ‘quality of life’ improvements, then they could use in-game achievement processes like increasing the purchase requirement, finding this through a M.A.M update tree, or even launch an event similar to FICSIT Christmas. I’d say sticking with having it as easy as possible to access unless both Coffee Stain & Lofi Girl decide creatively otherwise.

—The context

Satisfactory could implement this into its story as if it was a ‘wellness’ measure to ensure maximum productivity - which works both for the story as well as the ‘dark humour’ of ensuring high productivity with a funny ironic twist.

If Satisfactory wanted to go even further, they could introduce this as a wellness cassette series instead, and treat these like in-game compilations, enabling Coffee Stain to work with other lo-fi rep holders such as Chillhop or The Jazz Hop Cafe, and even potentially create an ironic-not-ironic product line similar to Marks & Spencer’s Percy Pig merchandise. They already have FICSIT merch available, so e-commerce and distribution is already covered.

It would be easy to have this integration also be an advertisement for the music too. Everytime you hit a benchmark or identify something new, your ‘AI Assistant’ called ADA speaks to you about your latest benchmark. Some ideas of what she could say include:

“This is ADA, your loyal assistant and part-time wellness guru.

Building the future is hard, so FICSIT is thrilled to launch the FICSIT Wellness Cassette Series, Volume 1. Featuring lo-fi beats designed to optimise your performance.

Put it into your boombox, hit play, and get back to work. Remember: the more relaxed you are, the fewer mistakes you’ll make, and fewer mistakes mean fewer disciplinary reports. It’s really a win-win.

Cassettes are now available at your local HUB terminal. No refunds if they mysteriously disappear into a resource sink. That’s on you.

Enjoy responsibly, and as always, remember—FICSIT thanks you for your service.”

This approach works beautifully because it integrates music into the core mechanics of the game without feeling overbearing. Features like discovering new cassettes as rewards for exploration or the Boombox's unique mechanics—such as its area-of-effect audio that lets other players hear the music and its non-lethal, playful pushback ability—add depth and fun to the experience. Expanding this concept with curated lo-fi tracks would align even further with the game’s aesthetic and lore, enhancing immersion while keeping the tone consistent. This kind of thoughtful integration is a blueprint other games worldwide could adopt to create engaging, community-driven experiences.

TLDR

Satisfactory is chill AF and could use chill AF music. Instead of the infinite choice Spotify offers, Satisfactory could curate music that matches its aesthetic and ambience, like curating playlists, for their players.

Satisfactory could directly embed similar-vibe music choices, like Lofi Girl, into the gameplay with an angle on its narrative. I think players would like this curated addition, and artists would benefit from curated recognition with this audience.

I do try to avoid writing about Fortnite…But, there’s something deeper than a new chapter and a live show that I want to document here, expanding on a recent perspective of ‘expression vs. encouraging’ music within gaming. Fortnite can easily do both, and I’ve got an idea of how it could encourage music discovery and development.

1. Fortnite Remix: The Prelude - Full Event

2. NERDY DATA ANALYSIS FOR THE NERDS

3. Expanding the latest Fortnite event

1. Fortnite Remix: The Prelude - Full Event

On the 1st November 2024, Fortnite hosted a live show and a digital event at the same time. The live show was a takeover of Times Square in New York, where Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice performed from within a billboard. At the same time, Fortnite put on a live event where players can head to a specific location in their main game mode (Battle Royale) and watch the live stream of the Times Square real life performance, in-game. When the event ended, the new chapter begun straight away, including new locations and cosmetics from the featured artists (Snoop Dogg, Ice Spice, Eminem and teasing Juice WRLD)

More than 10 million people watched this live in-game, with many more collectively watching on YouTube as well as in real life.

Overtaking the billboards in Times Square, asking Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice to perform live within them, and organising this at a specific time of day, is no doubt a huge expenditure. My guess is that this would have cost between $1-2 million for just these 15 minutes.

I’m not Rain Man, but I can confidently say there’s probably not 10 million people in this photo of the live event above, unlike the 10 million viewers through Fortnite. The idea of artists of this size playing Times Square specifically for Fortnite feels more like a huge publicity stunt for non-Fortnite fans to win credential, and a serious bragging right over the real-life leverage that Fortnite has.

Before I move onto some data, this whole partnership was curated by Good Game Champ, which is now the gaming arm of the legendary Death Row Records. Snoop Dogg has a long history with Death Row History, and the main man behind Good Game Champ is Cordell Broadus, who is Snoop Dogg’s son. Looks like the pair of them are leaning into gaming applications of music through appls like UEFN which is great to see.

2. NERDY DATA ANALYSIS FOR THE NERDS.

Epic said that artists see an 8.7% lift of consumption on streaming platforms after bringing music into the game. So what impact did this Fortnite inclusion have on music fans?

Let’s focus on Snoop Dogg as the main artist and feature of this event and chapter. Jumping into Chartmetric:

Snoop Dogg’s Spotify monthly listeners went up by 400% the first week of this event.

I then decided to check out one of the tracks that is used during an emote in the game, ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’. Below you can see an increase in streams of this track which does suggest a conversion from a game inclusion to streaming services.

(Note that there is no effect on airplay spins, suggesting Fortnite inclusion doesn’t translate to this format.)

YouTube is another important platform to consider for this demographic. There was a noticable increase in views, likes and comments across the board since the event.

Few important things to note here. Firstly, Snoop Dogg is already established and has big consistent numbers, so Fortnite’s exposure may not have had a dramatic effect, but its great to see there still is one. We also know that fans on YouTube are talking about Snoop Dogg, and players are listening to Snoop Dogg outside of the game.

However…the biggest find is this:

People discovering this track through shazam has gone up. This proves that players who did not know this song, wanted to know what song this was, with an intention to listen to it again. With 1.1 million daily players, Fortnite can be a place to enjoy established music, as well as discover it.

3. Expanding the latest Fortnite event

In my last Substack, I discussed ‘Expressing’ and ‘Encouraging’ music. The inclusion of Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Ice Spice in Fortnite's latest event is a clear example of music expression—established artists showcased in an immersive gaming experience. But what about encouraging music discovery?

The update introduced three themed areas and cosmetics tied to these artists, like a minigun that spouts the lyrics of "Godzilla." While this is very cool, there’s untapped potential in smaller, organic updates that mirror ‘playlisting’—a high-turnover, less curated approach to exposing players to new music. (Yes I’ve seen ‘Soundwave’)

If Fortnite wants to position itself as the global stage for music in gaming, why not embrace a festival-like model? Big events can coexist with smaller, unadvertised performances in various in-game venues in creative ways. Imagine random in-game mini events that introduce emerging artists alongside dynamically altering gameplay—creating an evolving and consistent connection between music and the gaming experience.

I'll give an example of this - I’ve been listening to way too much Jane Remover recently. This hyperpop sound could inspire a Fortnite venue where glitchy, Dariacore-inspired gameplay changes gravity or visuals as tracks shift. A single, reusable zone featuring emerging artists with simple cosmetic and gameplay tweaks could minimize development while driving music discovery.

For Epic, this is a long-term asset. Fortnite already boosts Spotify streams, YouTube views, and Shazams for featured artists. Translating this to emerging talent could foster grassroots cultural moments, building Fortnite’s reputation as a hub for shaping digital culture ‘bottom up’. Scarcity and spontaneity create intrigue, encouraging players to engage deeply with both the game and the music.

Despite limiting exposure, scarcity/secrecy is an effective in its own way - I’ve discussed how it creates a cult like following that can transcend above the game. Fortnite’s ability to boost music metrics for established artists raises the question: how might this translate for emerging talent, where player-driven interactions could shape future success? I’m here for it.

Finally, we are yet to see what Fortnite does with the storyline, because so far these artists have arrived in-game without any storyline ties (…yet?). If artists have a solid and consistent placement in the ongoing Fortnite lore, I don’t see why emerging artists that are ‘selected’ by player engagement could join the narrative. Is this a brand new style of A&R?

TLDR

Fortnite put on a live show featuring Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice in Times square, broadcasting in-game as an in-game event. Spotify & Youtube streams increased, and people were discovering the song through Shazam.

Fortnite could offer emerging artists valuable exposure while positioning itself as a hub for music discovery. Win-win.