The Game Awards 2023: How orchestra chief makes the well-known medley

Red carpets, acceptance speeches and upset wins are normally the highlights of awards exhibits. But there’s one the place the orchestra typically steals the present.

The Game Awards, which takes place later, and is a celebration of the 12 months’s finest titles.

Music and sound is a central expertise to any recreation, so it is smart that it additionally options closely throughout the so-called “Oscars of gaming”.

And the person in command of making it occur is musical director and conductor Lorne Balfe.

He educated below legendary film composer Hans Zimmer, and has labored on blockbuster movies together with Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible.

But it was his gaming music – from the Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed franchises – that caught the eyes and ears of Game Awards organiser Geoff Keighley.

Lorne says his consolation zone is “hiding in the studio 23 hours of the day”, however he agreed to do the present.

The most important occasion of the evening is a medley incorporating all of the theme tunes from the six Game of the Year nominees.

And this 12 months, Lorne has to weave Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Baldur’s Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Wonder into one coherent piece.

That’s two horror video games, two epic RPGs, a superhero blockbuster and the world’s favorite plumber.

Is {that a} problem when the nominations are revealed only a few weeks earlier than the present?

“It’s blooming difficult, is the answer,” Lorne tells BBC Newsbeat.

“You’re constantly trying to make sure that it’s just a flowing piece and that the audience are going to sit and just really feel that this year has been summed up.

“I simply attempt to suppose ‘what would I like to truly take heed to if I used to be the viewers, and the way would I prefer to see it?'”

Obviously, Lorne doesn’t get much choice over the material he gets to work with, but confesses he keeps an eye on what’s doing well with game critics.

“I’m at all times very acutely aware of what is being preferred,” he says.

“So you sort of begin feeling blissful… after which there’s at all times a sort of a shock, a curveball the place you sort of suppose: ‘Well… I did not know that was gonna make it,'” he says.

“And then you definately get it and also you’re simply left scratching your head.”

But most fans would agree Lorne manages to pull it off, and the medley is often one of the highlights of the night.

The Game Awards’ organiser Geoff Keighley, who’s led the event for nine years, describes it as a “celebration” of gaming.

And with this year having so many critically acclaimed titles, there’s certainly a lot to be happy about.

But the games industry’s also been hit by a huge number of layoffs – and people have been asking whether the show will address this.

Like many awards shows, there has also been chat about whether the ceremony will acknowledge world events like the Israel-Gaza war.

The Game Awards, and its sister event Summer Game Fest, have also been criticised for being too commercial and a lack of females on-stage.

BBC Newsbeat sent questions about these and other issues to the organisers – but didn’t receive answers to all of them.

However, Geoff’s co-producer Kimmie Kim, told Newsbeat: “Our focus was at all times and nonetheless is to stay devoted to what we expect makes good content material for the viewer and members on the present.

“Also, as the gaming industry becomes more inclusive, we want to be more welcoming to those new to the industry.”

And Geoff himself has stated: “Every year we try to improve and refine our approach.”

And final 12 months, it made an unlikely star of musician Pedro Eustache, when his passionate woodwind solo went viral, incomes him the nickname “Flute Guy”.

“I’ve known him for about 15 years,” says Lorne.

“And I think I call him the Flute Guy now, even in emails.

“But he is undoubtedly coming again. And he might be having one other solo once more, and rightly so.

“Music is his passion and his life. And when you see him performing, that is who he is. It’s just oozing out of him. So it was great after last year to see the amount of people falling in love with him.”

Lorne says that the prominence of the orchestra on the awards has helped to modify extra folks on to orchestral music, and in some instances even decide up an instrument themselves.

“I think what game music is really doing is showing that it’s not the stuffy old-school classical world,” he says.

“It’s a whole world that attracts different ages. And I think that that’s what the orchestra is doing. It’s getting a new audience and a younger audience into this sonic experience they normally wouldn’t have.

“I believe if you cannot get younger folks into it, then the idea of stay music will simply vanish sooner or later – we now have to maintain ensuring that audiences wish to witness this stuff and take heed to them.”

The Game Awards takes place in Los Angeles from 00:30 GMT on Friday.

Listen to Newsbeat stay at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or hear again right here.