Video games these days are big productions, and with good reason. The gaming industry is looking to clean up about 50-billion dollars in revenues this year, and this growing power to suck cash from the wallets of all peoples of the world shows no signs of relenting. The hunger of gamers and gaming has no end, and cannot be satisfied, only sated for a brief moment, by the next latest and greatest experience. To craft these experiences, game designers build their worlds using the latest technologies, the finest graphics their budgets can conjure up, and the best music from the most skilled professionals in the world.

That means calling out to the minions of the music industry, labouring in their pits and studio hovels. Not only that, but the clarion horn of video gaming cash has echoed through the valley of Hollywood, drawing out those musicians who toil in nameless misery behind the lighted screens of your favourite movies. These wights of a blighted industry are emerging from their crypts to flock under the banner of gaming, and there they discover it a lucrative field.

Unlike movies and songs, video games require a score that can change and adapt itself to the player’s actions, which brings with it a challenge and a demand that appeals to those who craft sound for a living. That sort of challenge also commands a seething reward of pulsating monies, piped straight into the musician’s veins at the rate of up to $2,000 per minute of refined and polished musical score.

This article in the Seattle Times explores the world of video game music from the perspective of a composer lured in from the cold seas of the movie industry. Check it out to see what’s going on behind the latest shootathon you just cleaned out your wallet to play.