My dearest tortured composer,
Today I write to you with a number I couldn't quite believe. A number so high that it made me seriously reconsider some of my musical plans.
And I dare say it may just make you reconsider a few things yourself.
If you've been feeling like composing is hopeless, maybe this could change your mind.
Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar (it definitely describes me).
You finish a track. You upload it. You refresh the play count.
Nothing.
You refresh again, just in case. Still nothing.
I know this one because I live it. I'm a composer too.
I'd love to tell you I figured it all out and now every track takes off. I haven't. It still happens to me. This is what composers go through every day, and I only know because I go through it too.
A few weeks back I stumbled onto something. I heard what the median video game composer gets paid on staff, and it was a lot higher than I ever would have expected. So I started poking around.
Turns out video games made $201.6 billion in 2025.
For comparison, the whole global box office made $30.5 billion. All recorded music made $29.6 billion. Add those two together and games are still more than three times bigger.
I honestly had no idea.
And it kept going. Close to 20,000 games came out on Steam last year.
Steam also has a demo festival called Next Fest, where you can try upcoming games early. In June 2025 it had 2,645 demos. This October it had 7,164.
That's 7,164 games in one festival, and every one of them needs music.
I couldn't really believe how great this industry is. That's why we put together this report: The State of Video Game Music. It has the numbers, ten composers who got into games without any connections, and the five things they did to get there.
It's in our composer community on Skool, in the classroom.
While you're there, look around. A few of us have been trading notes on this stuff.
And remember…
The world waits for your music…
Luke
