Sony Santa Monica’s “God of War” won a total six of awards at the 17th annual Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Awards held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco Thursday night.
The Norse-themed action-adventure game won audio of the year, music of the year, sound design of the year, best cinematic cutscene audio, best original choral composition, and best audio mix.
There were a total 18 categories during the event, which takes place annually during the Game Developers Conference. Game projects released between January and December 2018 were eligible to compete.
“G.A.N.G. has been recognizing excellence in game music and sound for 17 years, and I continue to be inspired by the quality of submissions in all categories,” said G.A.N.G. president Brian Schmidt. “We congratulate the winners and everyone who submitted, and thank our generous sponsors and the hundreds of members of G.A.N.G. who participated and voted.”
G.A.N.G. also honored Microsoft audio director Elise Baldwin with a lifetime achievement award during the event. “I am humbled and feel enormously privileged to be chosen to receive this award. Humbled by the profound wealth of talent that surrounds me in this field and by how devilishly hard the work of making audio for games can be. Privileged because I am so damn fortunate to get to make a living doing this thing that I love,” said Baldwin.
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Here is the full list of nominees and winners for the 17th annual G.A.N.G. Awards:
Audio of The Year
“Battlefield V” – EA DICE
“Far Cry 5” – Ubisoft Montreal
“Marvel’s Spider-Man” – Insomniac Games
“God of War” – Santa Monica Studios – WINNER
“Moss” – Polyarc
“Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” – Ubisoft
“Shadow of the Tomb Raider” – Eidos Montreal & Crystal
Dynamics
Music of the Year
“Torn” – Aspyr Games
“Far Cry 5” – Ubisoft Montreal
“God of War” – Santa Monica Studios – WINNER
“Moss” – Polyarc
“Forgotton Anne” – ThroughLine Games
“Frostpunk” – 11 bit studios
Sound Design of the Year
“Marvel’s Spider-Man” – Insomniac Games
“Battlefield V” – EA DICE
“Shadow of the Tomb Raider” – Eidos Montreal & Crystal
Dynamics
“God of War” – Santa Monica Studios – WINNER
“Moss” – Polyarc
Best Original Soundtrack Album
“Where the Water Tastes Like Wine” – Ryan Ike
“Pode” – Austin Wintory
“Battlefield V” – Johan Söderqvist, Patrik Andrén,
Fredrik Möller and Joel Eriksson
“Far Cry 5” – Dan Romer
“Shadow of the Tomb Raider” – Brian D’Oliveira –
WINNER
“Frostpunk” – Piotr Musiał
“Torn” – Garry Schyman
Best Interactive Score
“Shadow of the Tomb Raider” – Eidos Montreal & Crystal
Dynamics – WINNER
“God of War” – Santa Monica Studios
“Artifact” – Valve
“Tetris Effect” – Enhance, Inc., Monstars Inc., and Resonair
“Marvel’s Spider-Man” – Insomniac Games
“Wandersong” – Greg Lobanov
Best Cinematic Cutscene Audio
“Marvel’s Spider-Man” – Insomniac Games
“God of War” – Santa Monica Studios – WINNER
“Battlefield V” – EA DICE
“Shadow of the Tomb Raider” – Eidos Montreal &
Crystal Dynamics
“Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” – Ubisoft
“Far Cry 5” – Ubisoft Montreal
Best Dialogue
“God of War” – Santa Monica Studios
“World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth” – Blizzard
Entertainment
“Far Cry 5” – Ubisoft Montreal
“Moss” – Polyarc
“Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” – Ubisoft
“Battlefield V” – EA DICE
“Marvel’s Spider-Man” – Insomniac Games – WINNER
Best Original Instrumental
“Spider-Man” (“Marvel’s Spider-Man”)
“God of War” (“God of War”)
“Kara Main Theme” (“Detroit: Become Human”) –
WINNER
“Legends Old and New” (“Moss”)
“Main Theme” (“Just Cause 4”)
Best Game Audio Publication, Presentation, or
Broadcast
“Music for Games Should be More than Just Music” –
Olivier Derivière
“The War Bards” – Edouard Brenneissen, Gerard Marino,
Chance Thomas, Neal Acree, Emmanuel Lagumbay
“From Trumpets to Transients: A Composer’s Guide to
Sound Design” – Brad Beaumont, Bonnie Bogovich, John
Matz, Matthew Marteinsson, Emmanuel Lagumbay
“The 4 Domains of Audio in Spatial Computing” – Anastasia
Devana
“Soundworks Collection Video: Shadow of the Tomb
Raider” – Michael Coleman, Rob Bridgett, Frédéric
Arnaud, Hugo Léger, Anne-Sophie Mongeau, Brian
D’Oliveira – WINNER
Best Music in a Casual/Social Game
“Wonka’s World of Candy” – Zynga
“Star Trek Fleet Command” – CBS Interactive,
Scopely, Digit
“Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project” – Blizzard
Entertainment – WINNER
“WarSong” – Tencent
“Zootopia: Dreaming People” – Tencent Games
Best Game Music Cover/Remix
Overwatch Contenders (from “Overwatch”) – Jason Walsh,
Hexany Audio
“Xion” (from “Kingdom Hearts”) – Project Destati
“Beneath the Mask” (from “Persona 5”) – Tournament Arc
“Super Mario Bros.” – ConSoul – WINNER
“Ballad of the Windfish” (from “The Legend of Zelda: Link’s
Awakening”) – Rozen
Best Sound Design in a Casual/Social Game
“Wild Beyond” – Strange Sevens
“Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project” – Blizzard
Entertainment – WINNER
“Saint Seiya” – Tencent TIMI Studio Group
“Freedom Fantasy Online Mobile” – Tencent
“Battle Through the Heaven” – Tencent TIMI Studio
Group
“Wonka’s World of Candy” – Zynga
Best Original Song
“Right Where We Belong” (“Call of Duty: Black Ops 4”)
“Only We Few Remember It Now” (“The Banner Saga 3”)
“Waiting” (“Battle Through the Heaven”) – WINNER
“We Will Rise Again” (“Far Cry 5”)
“K/DA – POP/STARS” (“League of Legends”)
“Across the Seven Realms” (“Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep”)
“Heavy Hands” (“Where the Water Tastes Like Wine”)
“Home To Me” (“Moss”)
Best Original Choral Composition
“Down Among the Dead Men” (“Lamplight City”)
“Keep of Voices” (“Destiny 2: Forsaken”)
“Lullaby of the Giants” (“God of War”) – WINNER
“Aghanim’s Obsession” (“Artifact”)
“Glorifica” (“Battlefield V”)
“Cree – The Atomic Era (The Drums of
Poundmaker)” (“Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Rise &
Fall”)
“Oh the Bliss” (“Far Cry 5”)
Best Sound Design for an Indie Game
“Wandersong” – Greg Lobanov
“Below” – Capybara Games
“Moss” – Polyarc – WINNER
“Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep” – inXile Entertainment
“Yoku’s Island Express” – Villa Gorilla
Best Music for an Indie Game
“Forgotton Anne” – Peter Due
“Torn” – Garry Schyman
“Frostpunk” – Piotr Musiał
“Celeste” – Lena Raine
“Moss” – Jason Graves – WINNER
G.A.N.G. / MAGFEST People’s Choice Award (TIE)
“Celeste” – WINNER (TIE)
“Torna ~ The Golden Country” (“Xenoblade Chronicles 2”
DLC)
“Octopath Traveler” – WINNER (TIE)
“Deltarune”
“Red Dead Redemption 2”
“Minit”
“Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”
“Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom”
“Mega Man 11”
“The Messenger”
Best VR Audio
“Moss” – Polyarc – WINNER
Best Audio Mix
“God of War” – Santa Monica Studios – WINNER
G.A.N.G. Recognition Award
Damian Kastbauer
Distinguished Service Award
Becky Allen
