Digital games are a global cultural force, of which music is a foundational aspect. Music is crucial for digital games to develop atmosphere, convey narratives, and frame player interactions. At the same time, digital games provide musicians exciting new opportunities to experiment with dynamic, adaptive, and non-linear music structures. However, writing, producing, licensing, and implementing music for digital games also poses new challenges to existing screen music practices and business models.

The Australian Music and Games 2023 Benchmark is the first ever investigation into the scope and scale of Australia’s game music sector. It reveals a great diversity of working arrangements, career pathways, and skill sets among game music workers. It exposes entrenched and emerging challenges facing the field that require a rethinking of conventional approaches, and identifies new opportunities for Australian game music to flourish and grow.

The benchmark was commissioned by Creative Australia, and undertaken by Dr Brendan Keogh (Queensland University of Technology), Associate Professor Dan Golding (Swinburne University of Technology), and Taylor Hardwick (Queensland University of Technology). All authors are leading experts of Australia’s digital game industry, and Associate Professor Golding is a digital game composer in his own right (Untitled Goose Game, the Frog Detective series, Mars First Logistics).