Gitnux/Report 2026

Video Game Music Industry Statistics

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79Sources
12Sections
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Video Game Music Industry Statistics
Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

An editor sets the topic, the inclusion criteria, and the evaluation framework before research starts.

02Source Research

AI search agents locate sources and extract each figure together with the document it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 39 days

01 Industry overview

The video game music industry at a glance

The global video game music market was estimated at $1.4 billion in 2025 and is increasingly monetized through streaming, live performance, licensing and soundtrack releases.

$1.4B[14]
Global market size, 2025
270M[14]
French-related streams, 2025
26%[14]
Games on music platforms, 2023–25
$155,198[1]
Average game-audio salary, 2025
Market size
The international video game music market was estimated at $1.4 billion in 2025. The French video game market, a broader measure that includes games rather than music alone, stabilized at approximately €5.7 billion in 2024, up from €2.8 billion in 2015.[14]
Forecast & CAGR
The global video game music market is projected to reach $3.2 billion by 2035 from $1.4 billion in 2025. This implies an approximate compound annual growth rate of 8.6% over 2025–2035, calculated from the published endpoints.[14]
Market share & regions
Comparable global regional market shares were not identified. France’s broader video game market was worth approximately €5.7 billion in 2024, while GameSoundCon reported a median game-audio employee salary of $127,070 in the United States and Canada versus $62,500 in the United Kingdom and European Union in 2025.[14][1]
Segmentation
The French study analyzed 707 games produced by at least one French company between 2023 and 2025 and distinguishes AAA, AA and independent production segments. Only 26% of the games in its sample were distributed on music platforms, indicating that soundtrack availability varies substantially by production scale and distribution strategy.[14]
Key players & concentration
The French evidence describes a “superstar” effect in which a small number of titles and companies capture the largest share of revenue. The study uses Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Chants of Sennaar as case studies, but does not publish a precise concentration ratio.[14]
Pricing
Per-minute pricing remains a common model for freelance game composition: 55% of indie composers, 51% of midcore composers and 81% of AAA composers surveyed in 2025 said they charged this way. Average salaried game-music-composer pay was $131,686 in the United States and Canada and $63,236 in the EU and UK.[1]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Streaming of music associated with French-produced games increased from 38 million to 270 million between 2023 and 2025, while only 26% of sampled games reached music platforms. The 2025 GameSoundCon survey also found that 16% of respondents had been laid off during the preceding 12 months, highlighting labor-market pressure alongside digital growth.[14][1]
Consumer behavior & competition
A MIDiA Research survey of 9,019 consumers across nine markets examined game-soundtrack listening, music discovery and post-listening behavior in the fourth quarter of 2024. The published summary identifies gamers as a highly engaged music audience but does not disclose the underlying percentage results without report access.[63]
Latest news
In November 2026, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 composer Jason Graves publicly argued that AI should support artists rather than replace human creative work. The discussion reflects an emerging industry issue around generative AI in game-music production, although the report does not provide a market-size estimate for AI-generated game music.[64]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Video Game Music Industry

The leading companies in the video game music industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 10, 2026 · Next review December 10, 2026

Verdict

Sony Music Entertainment leads Gitnux's 2026 video game music ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with revenue growth 15.1% and operating margin 21.1%. Laced Music is the runner-up at 9.3, with licensing and releases managed since 2015.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in video game soundtrack publishing

    Sony Music Entertainment

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.9 · Video game soundtrack publishing

    Why we picked it: It publishes video game soundtracks through Sony Music Masterworks and partner labels, with 15.1% revenue growth.

    See in ranking ↓Visit sonymusic.com ↗

  2. #2 overall

    Laced Music

    GB

    Ranked #2 · 9.3 · Video game soundtrack publishing

    Why we picked it: It was established in 2015 to manage licensing and commercial releases of video game music.

    See in ranking ↓Visit lacedrecords.com ↗

  3. Leader in video game soundtrack physical editions

    iam8bit

    US

    Ranked #5 · 8.7 · Video game soundtrack physical editions

    Why we picked it: It publishes premium physical editions and vinyl soundtrack formats for video game music releases.

    See in ranking ↓Visit iam8bit.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Pick 2 is the highest-ranked company in the top 5 that adds a new segment; no further segment places in the top 5, so pick 3 follows rank.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the video game music industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Sony Music Entertainment

Video game soundtrack publishing · US

9.9
2

Laced Music

Video game soundtrack publishing · GB

9.3
3

Universal Music Group

Video game soundtrack publishing · NL

9.1
4

Materia Music

Video game soundtrack publishing · US

8.7
5

iam8bit

Video game soundtrack physical editions · US

8.7
6

GameChops

Licensed video game remix and cover label · US

8.4
7

Warner Music Group

Video game soundtrack publishing and distribution, global · US

8.3
8

Black Screen Records

Game soundtrack label, vinyl producer and distributor · DE

8.1
9

Brave Wave Productions

Game-music label, publishing and composition · JP

7.9
10

DATA DISCS

Licensed video game soundtrack vinyl label · GB

7.0

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 10, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 10). Top 10 companies in the video game music industry. In Video Game Music Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/video-game-music-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Comparison

Number of French video games with soundtracks available on Spotify, by company, in the 2023–2025 panel (France)

Ubisoft leads with 79.

Ubisoft79
Nacon13
Focus Entertainment10
Microids8
Plug in Digital7
source-verifiedcnmlab.fr

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Game-audio measurement covers both people and data pipelines: 654 respondents and MuVGM at 1,484 games and 7,129 tracks. Reported AI use remains limited, while Wwise adoption appears common: 60% of sound designers.

AI in the video game music industry

  • 654 game-audio professionals responded to the 2025 survey that added questions on artificial intelligence in game-audio production.[1]
  • 1,484 games and 7,129 tracks are included in MuVGM, a multimodal dataset built for video-game-music research using automated processing methods.[2]
  • 11 professional video-game composers were interviewed in a study of attitudes toward artificially intelligent music technology.[3]
  • Generative-AI use in game-audio production remained relatively rare among respondents to the 2025 GameSoundCon survey.[1]
  • Dialogue generation and coding or scripting were the most commonly reported generative-AI uses among game-audio professionals in 2025.[1]

Automation in the video game music industry

  • 5.4% of 406 game developers creating sound or music assets used Reaper in the 2024 survey.[4]
  • 60% of surveyed professional sound designers reported using Wwise in game projects in a study of real-time sound-propagation practices.[5]
  • 3% of 406 game developers creating sound or music assets used Wwise in the 2024 survey.[4]
  • 6.2% of 406 game developers creating sound or music assets used BandLab in the 2024 survey.[4]
  • 10.3% of 406 game developers creating sound or music assets used GarageBand in the 2024 survey.[4]
  • 5.7% of 406 game developers creating sound or music assets used Adobe Audition in the 2024 survey.[4]

Digital Transformation in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • 28% of global media and entertainment respondents reported a formal AI owner with a title and budget authority in 2025.[6]
  • 69% of global media and entertainment respondents described their business-technology relationship as siloed, transactional, or consultative in 2025.[6]
  • 49% of global media and entertainment organizations reported significant or moderate customer-retention improvement over the previous three years in 2025.[6]
  • 55% of global media and entertainment respondents were at the piloting or deploying stage of AI adoption in 2025.[6]
  • 54% of global media and entertainment organizations reported significant or moderate lead-generation improvement over the previous three years in 2025.[6]

Technology Adoption in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • 84% of gaming-company executives surveyed reported that their businesses were more cloud-reliant than ever in 2023.[7]
  • 87% of game developers surveyed across the United States, South Korea, Norway, Finland, and Sweden reported using AI agents in their workflows in 2025.[8]
  • 36% of surveyed game developers reported using AI for dynamic level design, animation and rigging, or dialogue writing in 2025.[9]
  • 62% of surveyed game-development studios reported using AI in their workflows in 2023.[10]
  • 90% of media and entertainment companies expected their AI investment to increase during the 24 months following a 2024 survey.[11]

Cloud Computing in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • 76% of gaming-industry respondents relied on cloud providers for databases in 2023.[7]
  • 56% of gaming-industry respondents relied on cloud providers for software-as-a-service in 2023.[7]
  • 60% of gaming-industry respondents relied on cloud providers for virtual machines in 2023.[7]
  • 78% of gaming-industry respondents relied on cloud providers for storage in 2023.[7]

Big Data in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • Almost 80% of gaming platforms reported poor decision-making when timely, complete data was unavailable in 2024.[12]
  • 80% of gaming platforms reported losing competitive edge when timely, complete data was unavailable in 2024.[12]
  • 60% of media and entertainment organizations were actively investing to a great extent in data synergy, AI, and automation in 2024.[11]
  • 70% of gaming platforms identified stifled innovation as a consequence of lacking timely, complete data in 2024.[12]
  • 74% of gaming platforms identified missed business opportunities as a consequence of lacking timely, complete data in 2024.[12]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Our evidence links listening outcomes to specific tracks and platforms, including 270 million cumulative Spotify streams for a French panel in 2025. Availability varies, with only 20th place for one title in a French 161-game Spotify panel.

Business intelligence in the video game music industry

  • 45.4% of Minecraft players listened to the game’s own music in the 2023 survey.[13]
  • 61.5% of Grand Theft Auto V players listened to in-game music in the 2023 survey.[13]
  • 59.7% of PUBG players listened to the game’s own music in the 2023 survey.[13]
  • 37.7% of Diablo IV players listened to the game’s own music in the 2023 survey.[13]
  • 20th out of 161 was Chants of Sennaar’s ranking for Spotify plays in the French video-game-music panel analyzed for 2023–2025.[14]
  • 11,399 saves were recorded for Chants of Sennaar tracks on Spotify’s Writing Focus community playlist in the 2023–2025 analysis.[14]

Data analytics in the video game music industry

  • 72,776,344 Spotify streams were recorded for “Secunda” from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in the analyzed game-music dataset.[15]
  • 67,736,601 Spotify streams were recorded for “Aria Math” from Minecraft in the analyzed game-music dataset.[15]
  • 108,328,598 Spotify streams were recorded for “Blow Me Away” from Halo 2 in the analyzed game-music dataset.[15]
  • 176,570,139 Spotify streams were recorded for “Sweden” from Minecraft in the analyzed game-music dataset.[15]
  • 98,613,094 Spotify streams were recorded for “BFG Division” from DOOM in the analyzed game-music dataset.[15]
  • 183,272,983 Spotify streams were recorded for “Megalovania” from Undertale in the analyzed game-music dataset.[15]

Data Quality in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • 49% of media and entertainment companies training AI models said they had wasted resources because of bad data in 2025.[11]
  • 16% of media and entertainment companies’ data was reported as trapped in 2025.[11]
  • 51% of media and entertainment business leaders were unsure their companies could generate and deliver relevant insights in 2025.[11]
  • 32% of gaming executives said making use of the data their companies collect was a significant current challenge, rising to 41% as an expected challenge in three years, according to an EY survey.[16]
  • 34% of media and entertainment organizations identified uniqueness as their leading data-quality issue in Adverity’s 2025 survey of 200 CMOs across the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[17]

Data Governance in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • 90% of media and entertainment respondents said a strong data foundation was the most critical factor for AI deployment in 2025.[11]
  • 87% of media and entertainment respondents said their data governance policies varied across departments in 2025.[11]
  • 80% of gaming platforms said access to real-time market data was very or extremely important for decision-making in 2024.[18]
  • 59% of gaming executives ranked gaining visibility into gaming endpoints as their top data priority in the EY survey.[16]
  • 61% of gaming platforms that tracked data in the prior 12 months had no access to any data in real time in 2024.[18]
  • 54% of gaming companies had dedicated analytics teams able to analyze company-wide data in a 2024 survey.[18]

KPIs in the video game music industry

  • 40% of videogame consumers surveyed in 2002 said a videogame introduced them to a new song or band.[19]
  • 34% was the year-over-year increase in people listening to Spotify Free through game consoles reported in 2020.[20]
  • 27% of videogame consumers surveyed in 2002 said they purchased music by new bands discovered through a videogame.[19]
  • 81% was the year-over-year growth in monthly time spent listening to Spotify through consoles reported in 2020.[20]
  • 43% of videogame consumers surveyed in 2002 said they downloaded songs from a videogame soundtrack.[19]
  • 52% of Spotify gamers said music was a large part of their gaming experience in the 2019 Spotify Gamer Streaming Study.[20]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

We see distribution and marketing tie-ins at the title level, including 125 licensed tracks in a Ubisoft partnership and millions of streams tied to soundtrack collaborations. Sampling also shows only 40.7% of a French game panel had soundtrack content on YouTube in 2023–2025.

Growth in the video game music industry

  • 125 Epidemic Sound tracks were offered in The Crew Motorfest through its Ubisoft partnership in 2023.[21]
  • Chants of Sennaar ranked 20th among 161 games in the French panel by Spotify plays.[14]
  • 288 of 707 identified French games had soundtrack content on YouTube, representing 40.7% of the panel during 2023–2025.[14]
  • 1,500-plus electronic tracks were added to Geometry Dash through the NoCopyrightSounds partnership in 2024.[21]
  • 8,000 console games were released annually according to Reactional Music’s estimate.[21]
  • 14,000 PC games were released annually according to Reactional Music’s estimate of the addressable market for game-music services.[21]

Differentiation in the video game music industry

  • 54% of music in large-budget games was produced virtually rather than predominantly by live musicians.[1]
  • 40% of surveyed French games were found on YouTube during the 2023–2025 soundtrack panel analysis.[14]
  • Less than 5% of surveyed game-music professionals were women.[1]
  • 95% of surveyed game-music professionals reported that their work was paid on a work-for-hire basis in the GameSoundCon survey.[1]
  • 20th place was Chants of Sennaar’s ranking among 161 French-panel games by Spotify plays.[14]
  • Less than 2% of surveyed game-music professionals reported receiving per-unit royalties.[1]

Mergers and acquisitions in the video game music industry

  • 2 employees founded Vibe Avenue before it grew to 17 staff and was acquired by PTW’s Side.[8]
  • €5.2 million was the reported euro equivalent of Keywords Studios’ acquisition of Cord Worldwide and Laced Music.[22]
  • £4.5 million was the total consideration paid by Keywords Studios for Cord Worldwide and Laced Music in 2018.[22]
  • Nearly 1,500 unique products were listed by Materia Store after Materia Music acquired Ship to Shore PhonoCo’s video-game-music inventory and catalog.[23]
  • 17 composers, sound designers, voice designers and production experts worked at Vibe Avenue when it was acquired by PTW’s Side in 2023.[8]
  • 2013 was the founding year of Vibe Avenue before its acquisition by PTW’s Side in 2023.[8]

Strategic partnerships in the video game music industry

  • 1.1 billion-plus total downloads were reported for Geometry Dash at the time of its NoCopyrightSounds collaboration.[21]
  • 20 billion user-generated levels had been created in Geometry Dash when its NCS partnership was announced.[21]
  • 125 Epidemic Sound tracks had accumulated millions of music-streaming plays before being included in The Crew Motorfest.[21]
  • 125 licensed tracks were available to drivers in The Crew Motorfest through the Ubisoft–Epidemic Sound partnership.[21]
  • 1,500-plus tracks were supplied to Geometry Dash creators through the NoCopyrightSounds partnership.[21]
  • 88,346 active players was Geometry Dash’s reported recent peak when it partnered with NoCopyrightSounds.[21]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Labor-market pressure coexists with regional pay polarization: median starting salary is $62,500 in the United States and Canada, and layoff exposure reached 16% in the 12 months before the 2025 survey. Nearly half of those laid off had found another game-audio job by then.

Hiring in the video game music industry

  • 35% of recent game-audio hires had majored or minored in game audio.[24]
  • 90%+ of recent game-audio hires had a sound- or music-related qualification.[24]
  • 654 people responded to the 2025 GameSoundCon survey, including 631 game-audio professionals worldwide.[1]
  • $62,500 was the median starting salary for recent game-audio hires with two or fewer years of experience in the United States and Canada.[1]
  • 1.2 years was the average time respondents who eventually entered game audio took to find a job after graduation.[1]

Employee retention in the video game music industry

  • 16% of game-audio survey respondents reported being laid off during the previous 12 months.[1]
  • 18% of laid-off game-audio respondents were freelancing after losing their job.[24]
  • 46% of laid-off game-audio respondents had found another game-audio job by the time of the survey.[1]
  • 30% of laid-off game-audio respondents were still looking for work.[24]
  • 51% of full-time game-audio freelancers preferred freelancing to employment.[24]

Remote Work in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among game workers surveyed internationally in 2023, a majority reported working entirely remotely.[25]
  • Nearly 60% of Croatian game studios allowed working from home as standard practice in 2024–2025, compared with 32% offering hybrid arrangements.[26]
  • Among game workers surveyed internationally in 2023, 23.6% worked a hybrid schedule.[25]
  • 59.7% of game workers surveyed globally worked fully remotely in 2023, while 23.6% followed hybrid schedules and 16.7% worked on-site full-time.[25]
  • Across U.S. video game companies, remote and fully remote workers accounted for 17% of total industry employment in 2025, representing 14,461 jobs.[27]

Hybrid Work in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across Italian video-game companies surveyed for 2024 industry facts, 84% said their work modalities would remain unchanged over the following two years.[28]
  • Among Italian video-game companies surveyed for 2024 industry facts, 21% reported on-site working, indicating that hybrid work was twice as common as fully on-site work.[28]
  • Among media and entertainment employers in Cisco’s 2025 global study, 87% said their organizations were still struggling to get the balance right with hybrid working.[29]
  • Across Italian video-game companies surveyed for 2024 industry facts, 42% reported hybrid working as their work modality.[28]
  • 21% of game developers reported a mandatory hybrid return-to-office schedule in 2024, while 5% reported mandatory five-day office work.[30]

Upskilling in the video game music industry

  • $79,012 was the average United States and Canada starting salary for recent game-audio hires reported in the 2023 survey.[1]
  • More than 90% of recent game-audio hires had a sound- or music-related qualification.[24]
  • 77% of professional game-audio respondents reported having a music- or audio-related degree.[24]
  • 1.2 years was the average post-graduation period before employed respondents found their first game-audio job.[1]

Employee Engagement in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among creative and media employees at organizations with more than 1,000 employees, 64% were engaged in Culture Amp’s July 2026 benchmark.[31]
  • Among European games-industry employees surveyed in 2025, on-site workers recorded an eNPS of −6.2, the lowest score among the three work formats.[32]
  • Among European games-industry employees surveyed in 2025, remote workers recorded an eNPS of −2.6.[32]
  • Among European games-industry employees surveyed in 2025, hybrid workers recorded an eNPS of +4.3, the highest score among remote, hybrid and on-site formats.[32]
  • Across media and entertainment organizations in Effectory’s global benchmark, 36.3% of employees were classified as engaged.[33]

DEI in the video game music industry

  • 75% of 2025 GameSoundCon respondents identified as White or Caucasian.[24]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Sales and engagement indicators combine physical and platform activity: 24,000 US vinyl copies sold in February 2026 launch week for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, while French-associated Spotify streams reached 270 million in 2025.

Customer experience in the video game music industry

  • 617 million digital streams had been accumulated by the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack by April 24, 2026.[34]
  • 27% of surveyed respondents bought in-game merchandise connected with a music event on Fortnite.[35]
  • 45 minutes was sufficient for tickets to the first A Painted Symphony mini-tour to sell out.[34]
  • 24,000 United States vinyl copies of the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack were sold during its February 2026 launch week.[34]
  • 45% of respondents who attended a virtual concert on Roblox said they subsequently listened more to the artist.[35]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Discovery and social behavior are quantified through marketer and consumer surveys. Music reach includes a 465% Spotify stream increase in a French release-year comparison from 2023 to 2025.

Marketing in the video game music industry

  • 16% of surveyed game marketers used promotion on a platform’s digital storefront as a top discovery method in 2026.[32]
  • 31% of surveyed game marketers used paid advertising as a top discovery method in 2026.[32]
  • 4% of surveyed game marketers used in-game crossovers or promotions as a top discovery method in 2026.[32]
  • 30% of surveyed game marketers used in-person or virtual events as a top discovery method in 2026.[32]
  • 13% of surveyed game marketers used forums such as Reddit or Steam discussions as a top discovery method in 2026.[32]

Digital marketing in the video game music industry

  • 2,994,924 streams were recorded for Cassette Beasts in the 12 months covered by Black Screen Records’ catalogue report.[36]
  • 82% was the increase in cumulative Spotify streams for the French video-game music panel between 2023 and 2024.[14]
  • 465% was the increase in Spotify streams between games released in 2023 and games released in 2025 in the French panel’s release-year comparison.[14]
  • 101,697 listeners were recorded for Cassette Beasts in Black Screen Records’ catalogue report.[36]
  • 270 million cumulative Spotify streams were recorded by the French video-game music panel in 2025.[14]

Branding in the video game music industry

  • 58% of participants indicated that owning or listening to game music affected their interactions with other gamers.[37]
  • 36.9% of respondents encountered videogame music through videogame advertisements and trailers.[37]
  • 42% of respondents listened to videogame music by listening to other people play games.[37]
  • 45% of participants described social bonds forming among people who listen to, share, and discuss game music.[37]
  • 22.4% of respondents preferred listening to videogame soundtracks performed live.[37]

Social media in the video game music industry

  • More than 1 million YouTube views were generated by the Lofi Girl collaboration featuring Assassin’s Creed Shadows music by February 2026.[14]
  • 11,399 saves were recorded for the Writing Focus community playlist containing tracks from the studied game soundtrack.[14]
  • 49% of game-company marketers surveyed by GDC used streamers in their marketing efforts in 2026.[32]
  • 23% of game-company marketers surveyed by GDC used promotion at events in 2026.[32]
  • 1.6 million Instagram followers were held by Assassin’s Creed’s dedicated account in the French video-game music study.[14]

Influencer Marketing in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across global brands and agencies, 48% report earning at least 3x ROI from creator marketing in 2026, up from 37% the previous year.[38]
  • Across U.S. creator-ad buyers, 40% rank overall return on investment as their top KPI for creator campaigns in 2025.[39]
  • U.S. creator advertising spend is projected to grow 26% year over year in 2025, nearly four times faster than overall media-industry growth.[39]
  • Among respondents to a global influencer-marketing survey, gaming represented 11.9% of reported campaign-sector activity in 2024, making it the second-largest named vertical.[40]
  • Among U.S. creator-ad buyers, 48% consider creators a must-buy media channel, ranking behind only social media and paid search in 2025.[39]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Execution relies heavily on external work: approximately 50% of audio, localization, QA and art work is handled externally. On the technical side, Wwise usage is common, while onboarding for external partners is typically 1 to 3 months.

Process optimization in the video game music industry

  • 1.2 years was the average time taken by employed 2025 survey respondents to find a game-audio job after graduation.[1]
  • 16% of 2025 GameSoundCon respondents had been laid off from game-audio work during the preceding 12 months.[1]
  • 46% of game-audio respondents laid off during the 12 months before the 2025 survey had found another game-audio job.[1]
  • 11% of salaried 2023 game-audio respondents worked for an audio company serving game developers.[1]
  • 30% of 2023 respondents worked as pure freelancers in game music or sound design.[1]

Operational efficiency in the video game music industry

  • 80% of 2019 game-audio freelancers reported composing music as one of their roles.[1]
  • 1.7% of 2019 game-company employees worked exclusively as music composers.[1]
  • 5% of 2019 game-company employees reported performing dialogue work.[1]
  • 3.5% of 2019 game-company employees composed music and served as audio directors without other listed roles.[1]
  • More than 40% of 2019 game-audio freelancers used middleware such as Wwise or FMOD.[1]

Quality management in the video game music industry

  • 15% of all 2023 game-audio professionals identified as non-male.[1]
  • Less than 1% of recent 2023 game-audio hires reported a degree unrelated to music, sound or technical fields.[1]
  • 70% of big-budget productions in the 2017 study used live musicians for at least part of their game music.[41]
  • 77% of 2023 company-employed game-audio professionals had a music- or audio-related degree.[1]
  • 86% of 2023 game-audio professionals reported having at least a two-year associate degree.[1]

Supply chain in the video game music industry

  • 1 to 3 months is the typical onboarding time for a new external game-development partner.[42]
  • Approximately 50% of audio, localization, QA and art work is handled externally in the game industry, according to the 2026 report.[42]
  • 20% of game productions in the 2017 study used a custom audio solution developed by the game developer.[41]
  • 20% of game productions in the 2017 study used FMOD middleware.[41]
  • 39% of game developers and publishers reported that external-partner onboarding takes longer than 1 to 3 months.[42]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the entertainment and gaming sector (sector benchmark)

  • 37% of mobile-game studios outsourced publishing during 2023, according to a global industry survey.[43]
  • 28% of mobile-game studios outsourced art during 2023, according to a global industry survey.[43]
  • 42% of game developers reported in 2026 that their external providers subcontracted portions of work to third parties, based on a survey of more than 250 professionals worldwide.[44]
  • 73% of game-development partnerships began through industry events in the 2026 external-development survey of more than 250 professionals worldwide.[44]
  • 40% of mobile-game studios outsourced development tasks during 2023, according to a global industry survey.[43]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Pricing and pay data show minute-based work remains central, including $618 average freelance indie rate per finished minute in 2025. Salary benchmarks include $131,686 average employed game-music composer pay in the United States and Canada in 2025.

Pricing strategy in the video game music industry

  • $618 per finished minute was the average 2025 freelance composer rate for indie games worldwide.[1]
  • $2,100 per finished minute was the highest reported freelance composition rate for indie and midcore games in 2025.[1]
  • $300–$1,000 per minute was the reported 2016 fee range for professional casual game music projects.[41]
  • $5,000 per finished minute was the highest reported AAA composition rate in 2025.[1]
  • $407 per finished minute was the 2025 median freelance composition rate for indie games.[1]

Cost reduction in the video game music industry

  • 16% of game-audio respondents reported being laid off during the 12 months before the 2025 survey.[1]
  • 14.7% of game-audio professionals worked for audio-outsourcing companies in 2025, up from 5% in 2016.[1]
  • 42.9% of composers in a 2017 game-audio study had a non-audio-related day job, reflecting income diversification in the profession.[41]
  • 36% of indie freelance composers licensed music rights to developers or publishers in 2025, reducing full rights-transfer requirements.[1]
  • 46% of laid-off game-audio workers had found another game-audio job by the 2025 survey.[1]

Profitability in the video game music industry

  • $99,796 was the average 2025 salary for game-audio directors in the European Union and United Kingdom.[1]
  • $131,686 was the average 2025 salary for employed game composers in the United States and Canada.[1]
  • €102,607 was the average annual freelance game-audio income reported for North America in the 2017 study.[41]
  • $58,566 was the average 2025 salary for game sound designers in the European Union and United Kingdom.[1]
  • €32,659 was the average real annual freelance income from game audio in the 2017 international study.[41]

Financial planning in the video game music industry

  • 44% of indie composers were eligible for game-soundtrack revenue in 2025, compared with 47% of midcore composers and 29% of AAA composers.[1]
  • 74% of serious game-audio freelancers’ income came from game-audio creation in 2025.[1]
  • 36% of AAA freelance composers received performing-rights-organization income from game music during the 12 months before the 2025 survey.[1]
  • 53% of game-audio professionals received 100% of their income from game audio in 2025.[1]
  • 1.2 years was the average time employed game-audio professionals needed to find a full-time industry job after graduation in the 2025 survey.[1]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Role-specific compensation benchmarks are reported alongside pricing shares, including 51% of midcore freelance composers charging per finished minute in 2025. Rights arrangements also appear in income structures, with 36% of indie composers licensing music rights in 2025.

Product development in the video game music industry

  • $131,686 was the average salary for company-employed game-music composers in the United States and Canada in 2025.[1]
  • $99,796 was the average salary for audio directors employed in the European Union and United Kingdom in 2025.[1]
  • $124,277 was the average salary for company-employed sound designers in the United States and Canada in 2025.[1]
  • 654 people responded to the 2025 GameSoundCon survey, including 631 professional game-audio workers worldwide.[1]
  • $63,457 was the average salary for recent United States and Canadian game-audio hires with two or fewer years of experience in 2025.[1]

Product lifecycle in the video game music industry

  • 51% of midcore freelance composers charged by the minute for completed music in 2025.[1]
  • $618 was the average indie freelance-composer rate per finished minute of music in 2025.[1]
  • 55% of indie freelance composers charged by the minute for completed music in 2025.[1]
  • 50% of salaried 2023 respondents worked directly for a game company.[1]
  • 36% of indie freelance composers retained music ownership through a licensing arrangement for their latest game in 2025.[1]

After-sales in the video game music industry

  • 18% of game composers had received performing-rights-organization income from a game score by 2022, according to the 2023 survey.[1]
  • 58% of freelance game-music composers typically charged per finished minute in 2023.[1]
  • $48,100 was the median annual income of North American freelance game-audio workers in 2023.[1]
  • $105,000 was the median salary of surveyed game-audio programmers in 2023.[1]
  • $33,000 was the median annual income of freelance game-audio workers outside North America in 2023.[1]

Value proposition in the video game music industry

  • 9.3% of 2023 respondents identified as Hispanic or Latino.[1]
  • $500,000 to $600,000 was the typical soundtrack budget for a AAA blockbuster game, according to a 2023 industry interview.[45]
  • 77% of company-employed game-audio respondents held a music- or audio-related degree in 2023.[1]
  • 18% of game-audio respondents reported a major or minor specifically in game music or game sound design in 2023.[1]
  • 6.6% of 2023 respondents identified as Asian.[1]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Work-for-hire dominates composition structures: 91% of AAA game music composition was reported as work-for-hire in 2021, down from 98% in 2019. Layoffs and role overlap show up alongside the gender composition gaps reported in workforce surveys.

Ethics in the video game music industry

  • 91% of AAA game music composition was reported as work-for-hire in 2021, down from 98% in 2019.[1]
  • $88,140 was the average salary for salaried game-audio professionals in 2021, based on a survey of the industry.[1]
  • 14% of salaried game-audio employees also performed freelance work in 2021, according to an international survey.[1]
  • 35% of game-audio survey respondents were pure freelancers in 2021, covering the United States and other regions.[1]
  • Almost 7 in 10 composers working on indie and midcore games also performed sound-design work in 2021.[1]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

We see global workforce sourcing signals through survey counts and outsourcing intensity, including 75.86% of surveyed Warsaw developers outsourcing localization in 2019. Market listening evidence also includes high-volume Spotify streams such as 176,570,139 for “Sweden” from Minecraft.

Globalization in the video game music industry

  • 654 usable responses from around the world were received for the 2025 Game Audio Industry Survey.[1]
  • 20% was the approximate increase in game-audio salaries from 2023 to 2025 in both North America and Europe.[1]
  • 161,054,550 Spotify streams had been accumulated by Undertale’s “MEGALOVANIA” by 25 January 2024.[59]
  • 3x as likely to work for an audio-outsourcing company as ten years earlier were game-audio employees in the 2025 global survey.[1]

Cultural adaptation in the video game music industry

  • 75.86% of surveyed Warsaw game developers outsourced localisation in 2019.[60]
  • 13.79% of surveyed Warsaw game developers outsourced audio in 2019.[60]
  • 55.17% of surveyed Warsaw game developers outsourced music in 2019.[60]

Supplier management in the video game music industry

  • 30% of respondents with a low outsourcing NPS cited that the provider failed to fulfill some obligations in 2024.[61]
  • 32% of surveyed game-development professionals outsourced quality assurance in their latest project in 2024.[61]
  • 19% of respondents with a low outsourcing NPS cited unnecessarily complicated communication with the provider in 2024.[61]
  • 33% of surveyed game-development professionals outsourced localisation in their latest project in 2024.[61]
  • 16% of respondents with a low outsourcing NPS cited a non-transparent work process on the outsourcer’s side in 2024.[61]

Stakeholder management in the video game music industry

  • 14.2% of respondents cited unrealistic deadlines as a cause of challenges in making their latest game in 2024.[61]
  • 30.6% of respondents cited external factors beyond their control as a cause of challenges in making their latest game in 2024.[61]
  • 10.9% of respondents cited lack of communication as a cause of challenges in making their latest game in 2024.[61]
  • 20.2% of respondents cited unrealistic budgets as a cause of challenges in making their latest game in 2024.[61]
  • 53.0% of respondents said insufficient internal expertise caused challenges in making their latest game in 2024.[61]

Distribution channels in the video game music industry

  • 39% of XDS-surveyed service providers offered mobile game-development services in 2020.[62]
  • 17% of surveyed game-development professionals worked on VR, AR or MR projects in 2024.[61]
  • 39% of XDS-surveyed service providers offered PC or online game development services in 2020.[62]
  • 35% of XDS-surveyed service providers offered VR or AR game-development services in 2020.[62]
  • 44% of surveyed game-development professionals worked on console projects in 2024.[61]

Key questions about the video game music industry

What is the current size of the video game music market?
The global video game music market was estimated at $1.4 billion in 2025.
How fast is the market expected to grow?
It is projected to reach $3.2 billion by 2035 from $1.4 billion in 2025, implying an approximate 8.6% CAGR over 2025–2035.
Which companies lead the video game music industry?
Sony Music Entertainment leads Gitnux's 2026 video game music ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with revenue growth 15.1% and operating margin 21.1%. Laced Music is the runner-up at 9.3, with licensing and releases managed since 2015.
What technology shifts show up in game-music production?
Streaming and live performance are cited as key monetization channels, and generative-AI adoption is discussed as an emerging issue. The 2025 survey also reported 654 responses with added questions on artificial intelligence in game-audio production.
How concentrated is the market around breakout titles?
The French evidence describes a “superstar” effect where a small number of titles and companies capture the largest share of revenue, without a published concentration ratio.
How available is soundtrack content across games on music platforms?
Only 26% of the French study’s 707-game sample were distributed on music platforms, while streaming of associated French-produced games rose from 38 million to 270 million between 2023 and 2025.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 10). Video Game Music Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/video-game-music-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Video Game Music Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 10 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/video-game-music-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Video Game Music Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/video-game-music-industry-statistics.

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