Last Friday, on the 10th of March, Game Audio Awards were held for the first time in a few years. The last time it was organized was in 2020. This caused some electricity in the air, as the event was eagerly anticipated.
The event was held at Hotel Lasaretti in Oulu, Finland. The event is the biggest of its kind in all of Europe.
The evening started with toasts when entering the hall. After taking seats at the preselected tables, the show started. First, they showed a clip of Lukas Stasevskij, who is a part of Game Music Collective, playing a song from the Last of Us with a cello. The video was filmed in war-torn Kyiv in Ukraine. This setup caused massive goosebumps. Lukas has been all over Finnish and international media for the last year for the work he has done for Ukraine.
Next up were speeches from the event’s sponsors: Housemarque and Fingersoft. Especially Ville Rauma’s speech concerning the importance of entertainment in these stressful and difficult times was a good reminder for all of us. That is what the whole event is basically for: to come together in a well-organized event, enjoy great food and drinks, get to know new people, and celebrate last year’s very diverse game music and audio design.
The Jury in 2023 consisted of six highly awarded individuals: Rob Krekel, Panu Riikonen, Ville Sorsa, Panu Aaltio, Kristofer Eng, and Joel Schoch. The jury members have individually participated in the music and audio departments of games/franchises such as The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Control. They also have lots of experience working in the film industry.
The category of best game sound design had ten nominees: Angry Birds Journey, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), The Callisto Protocol, Dome Keeper, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, The Forest Quartet, MARVEL SNAP, Metal: Hellsinger, Oakenfold and Total War: Warhammer III.
Eventually, the winner was published and it was: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)
The second category was the best Game music. It also had ten nominees: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), Card Shark, Chorus, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Floodland, Friends & Dragons, Horizon Forbidden West, Metal: Hellsinger, Trek to Yomi and Vampire Survivors.
The winner of this category was: Metal: Hellsinger.
The evening had some live music as well. Producer/Oboist Saku Mattila and Guitarist Ossi Maristo from Game Music Collective played some songs for us.
After the official part of the event was over, we got to enjoy some more live music, this time from Lasse Junnila. Also, during the set people were enjoying the music and socializing at the same time. These kinds of events are great for networking.
- An event that focuses on Audio and Music departments of the games
- Was arranged for the 8th time in 2023
- Biggest of its’ kind in all of Europe
