Journey composer Austin Wintory on what makes a great video game soundtrack: "It doesn't really logically make sense"

It's one thing to be prolific in one's field. It's another to be prolific while maintaining the level of quality that composer Austin Wintory has.

Whether Austin's name is one you recognise or not, any self-respecting gamer of the last 20 years will undoubtedly recognise his work.

From Flow, through Journey, Monaco, The Banner Saga, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Abzû, Absolver, and most recently, Sword of the Sea and Hades II, Wintory has composed some of the most impactful soundtracks in modern gaming.

BAFTA-winning and Grammy-nominated, Wintory is preparing to conduct next year's BAFTA Games in Music concert, so naturally we took the opportunity to ask the man himself what makes a good video game soundtrack?

"I would say that it's never any one thing," he began. "So obviously, individual tastes are going to vary a lot, but for me, when I play a game, I judge my own work completely differently. And generally, there's never such thing as 'good enough' with regard to my own work.

"In other words, it never really feels finished. But when I just go and play a game and I want to kind of take stock of how well I think it's going, there's a few criteria.

"Is there something unique about it? From an aesthetic standpoint, does it draw on an interesting palette of instruments, or does it use them in an unexpected way? Does it commit to a quality, like, a characteristic that just somehow gives it a novelty?

"Perfect example, actually, from one of my absolute favourites from this year is Lorien Testard's music from Expedition 33, which heavily draws on piano and guitar plus voice, which is not exactly revolutionary, but it's so committed to that aesthetic that, even though there's actually quite a lot else to it, it really takes on a character by virtue of its steadfast commitment."

Wintory alludes to variety in approaches to composing a score, contrasting those with a lot of variety with his own preference for those that are more cohesive.

"Every time we're writing a score, sometimes it's, you know, two, three, four hours of music we have to write, and so you're constantly going, 'Well, I guess I already did this. I'll just reach for another tool in my toolbox.'

"And the problem that can happen then is you end up with scores that every piece sounds kind of like its own little universe. And for me, what makes for a great one is when every little part is very clearly of a single whole, that it's cohesive on a big picture scale.

"That four hours of music feels like one thing that's just broken up into a bunch of smaller parts, but that it really is coming from a single place.

"It's the kind of thing I tend to work the hardest on in my own work."

Beyond the more complex concepts of scoring a video game, Wintory adds that he is "a sucker for a memorable melody".

He credits some of his favourite composers – Gareth Coker (Ori, Ark: Survival Evolved, Halo Infinite), Darren Korb (Bastion, Transistor, Hades) and again, Lorien Testard – noting that they possess "one of those gifts that not every composer has".

Wintory notes that scoring for video games poses the unique challenge of integrating music and gameplay.

"That's one thing that's easy to forget, because we live in a world where you go appreciate a soundtrack on Spotify, and that has nothing to do with its actual architecture in the game, and that’s so important.

"Does the music actually weave into the gameplay, or is it basically just the equivalent of hitting play on the right track at the right moment?

"That could be fine, but for me, the true greats have to be seamlessly woven in, where you almost can't see where the edges are. To me, that's the real art of video game music that makes it so distinct from all others."

As someone who is admittedly totally musically inept – although Wintory does tell me off for saying so – I could not even begin to conceive of how a game soundtrack takes form.

Interestingly, for a composer of Wintory's talent and experience, how that process begins is not much clearer.

"One never really knows. It is an explorational process where, usually, I'm very lucky. The majority of the projects that I'm involved with, they bring me in very early and it tends to be a very open-ended conversation.

"They don't really know what to do yet with music, and they're kind of looking to me to help find the answer, as opposed to 'Here's what we're looking for. We think you'd be a great fit. Can you just be off and running?'

"I do have jobs like that, but the majority, especially collaborations with folks like Giant Squid – games like Sword of the Sea and Abzû and Pathless, and prior to that with Thatgamecompany on Journey – so much of it, the game doesn't even exist. It's barely even concept drawings. It's barely even an elevator pitch.

"And so, I wish I could say there's some process or some kind of trick to it. It's literally just, well, what's the first thing that came to mind? I guess I'll try that."

While the approach of 'what's the first thing that comes to mind' may seem a tad blasé, that first thing is often the result of Wintory having undertaken lengthy research.

"I usually think about it a lot. I'm a big fan of having a kind of R&D phase where you just try to not write anything, and just let ideas simmer, and then things start to kind of connect in your subconscious.

"And you'll invariably be in the car or in the shower, in line at the market or whatever, and then a thought will burst in and get [I'll] get out my phone and send myself a little email going, 'Ooh, what if I tried this?'

"But at some point, once I've done enough of that, I just start trying things. And sometimes, you get lucky and you just, for whatever reason, land on a thing that everyone feels good about and seems to gel with.

"And then, other times, it's 'Let's try a few things'. Sometimes, multiple competing ideas will come to mind, and I'll just try them all, and I'll put all of them, like a buffet, in front of the team and say, 'Here's one, here's another'."

To illustrate his point, Wintory recalled his work on an as-yet-unannounced game.

"I'm actually working on a project right now where they said, 'Let's start with a main theme', which is very often where people want to start, because it's sort of like the headline of the article, or the thesis statement of the essay, you know?

"I wrote two themes that I felt could potentially be a good candidate for the project, and then right as I was getting ready to send it, I was like, 'You know, I have this other idea kind of kicking in my head that's totally different from those, but for some reason, it seems like this could be a good way to go.'

"So, on a whim, I quickly whipped up the third one, and the third one was the one that they were like, 'Oh, that totally feels like this game', and it was of those that I almost didn't include because it seemed superfluous, so sometimes that's how it goes."

There you have it – even one of gaming's most celebrated composers doesn't quite understand how it all works.

"I honestly don't even really understand the process because creativity is so bizarre, where it's like, if you just think hard enough, something that doesn't exist starts to exist.

"It doesn't really logically make sense to me how that should work, but somehow I've been conning my way through that process for the last 20 years, so no one's discovered my imposterness yet."

BAFTA Games in Concert takes place on 31st January 2026. Tickets are available to purchase from the Southbank Centre.

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