And the Grammy goes to…Assassin’s Creed Vlaaahalllalla. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has won the first-ever Grammy award for the Best Video Game Score…even though the game came out in 2020.
Maybe it’s my fault for not watching or understanding the Grammy nomination system, but how were any of the games nominated at last night’s Grammy Awards up for an award that is being given out in 2023? I’m not bugging out in saying that they all came out in either 2020 or 2021, right?
Now, I love that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Valhalla’s composer Stephanie Economou, and the entire gaming score/music industry as a whole is finally being recognized by the Grammys, but how is a game that came out Nov. 3rd, 2020 up for an award at a 2023 award show? Shouldn’t the nominees be games that came out this past year, such as the super popular and successful God of War: Ragnarök, Elden Ring, and A Plague Tale: Requiem?
That’s only how every award show in the history of the universe has worked.
And don’t think that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was the only outdated game nominated as even though it was the oldest game on the list, it certainly wasn’t outdated by its competitors by that much. Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2021), Old World (2021), and Alien: Firestorm Elite (2021) were all made in 2021 and were nominated/in contention for game awards in the 2022 gaming award cycles, not the 2023 award cycle the Grammys just wrapped up.
I must be missing something about the Grammy nomination process as this win just doesn’t make any sense. I get the Grammy voting members may not be the biggest gamers out there (it would really surprise me if 50% of them could even name 5 video games), but they do realize that there have been games made in the last 12 months, right? It doesn’t seem like it.
And, not to nitpick, but how did Old World, a decent strategy game, make the cut for this award? I love strategy games as much as the next person and their scores (the old school Total War ones are the best), but even I wouldn’t put one up for a Best Video Game score category over action-adventure, RPG, MMO, or Open World games. And especially not over games like Elden Ring or God of War: Ragnarök.
Anyway, I’m glad Ubisoft and the Assassin’s Creed franchise is getting a little moment before the release of Assassin’s Creed Mirage later this year as unlike Valhalla, that game might very well end up being one of the very best games in the franchise’s history.
So, in closing, it’s great when the award syndicates of the “classic entertainment mediums” (ex: TV, film, music) acknowledge video games and their huge cultural impact on the world today, but that recognition usually comes with them being so out of touch it’s laughable to even be nominated. I mean, did you see how the presenter said “Valhalla”?
My translation above doesn’t even do the guy’s attempt to say Assassin’s Creed Valhalla properly as he truly had an outer-body experience when he saw those three words on the winner’s card.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Ubisoft) (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Story Trailer – YouTube)
