Some wins mean more than others. Today, French composer Nicolas Garcia has every reason to celebrate. Yesterday evening, the World Soundtrack Awards celebrated some of the standout scores to emerge over the past 12 months across film, television, and video games. Although it went head-to-head with heavyweights in its category—including indie darling UNBEATABLE and Korean AAA Crimson Desert—the gloomy, unsettling soundtrack to Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss took home the prize. Garcia follows in the footsteps of another French composer honored last year: Lorien Testard, recognized for his stunning debut in game scoring with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
“Wow, I didn't expect that,” Garcia beamed on stage before thanking the team at the now-defunct Big Bad Wolf studio. The French developer was shuttered just a couple of months ago following sweeping restructuring at publisher Nacon, which also hit Midgar Studio as it worked on Edge of Memories.
I sat down with Nicolas Garcia last summer for an in-depth conversation about the wave of layoffs and the turbulent path the gaming industry is currently navigating.
Here is the full list of WSA winners:
Film Composer of the Year
- Alexandre Desplat - Frankenstein; Eagles of the Republic; Jurassic World Rebirth; L'homme qui rétrécit (The Shrinking Man)
- Jonny Greenwood - One Battle After Another
- Hildur Guðnadóttir - The Bride!; Hedda; 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
- Daniel Pemberton - Project Hail Mary; The Drama; The Bad Guys 2; Masters of the Universe
- Max Richter - Hamnet
Television Composer of the Year
- David Fleming - Widow's Bay
- Finneas O'Connell - Beef (Season 2)
- Martin Phipps, Benji Merrison - Steal
- Dave Porter - Pluribus
- Jeff Russo - Alien: Earth; Cape Fear; Citadel (Season 2)
Best Original Song
- "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters - written by Kim Eun-jae, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Teddy Park | performed by Huntrix
- "House" from Wuthering Heights - written by Charli XCX, John Cale, Nathan Klein, Finn Keane | performed by Charli XCX, John Cale
- "No Place Like Home" from Wicked: For Good - written by Stephen Schwartz | performed by Cynthia Erivo
- "Stolen Tale" from Hedda - written by Hildur Guðnadóttir, Nia DaCosta | performed by Mariam Wallentin
- "Train Dreams" from Train Dreams - written by Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner | performed by Nick Cave
Discovery of the Year
- Mari Fukuhara - Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
- Paris Hurley - The Chronology of Water
- Kangding Ray - SIRÀT
- Hannah Peel - Midwinter Break
- Sam Slater - 2000 Meters to Andriivka
Public Choice Award
- Avatar: Fire and Ash - Simon Franglen
- Soy Frankelda - Kevin Smithers
- Project Hail Mary - Daniel Pemberton
- Starbright - Ludek Drizhal
- KPop Demon Hunters - Marcelo Zarvos
Game Music Award
- Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss - Nicolas Garcia
- Crimson Desert - Hwiman Ryu, Inro Joo, Hyoung Woo Roh, Jiyoon Kim, Dongjune Oh
- Dispatch - Andrew Arcadi
- Marathon - Ryan Lott
- UNBEATABLE - rj lake, Vasily Nikolaev, Rachel Lake, and Clara Maddux (D-CELL SOUND TEAM)
Belgian Film Composer of the Year powered by Sabam
- Margaret Hermant - A la cara (Nothing Personal); Mallorca Confidencial
- Frederik Van de Moortel - De Pupil
- Frédéric Vercheval - Les Tourmentés
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Trevor Jones
Best Original Composition by a Young Composer
- Xabier Doural García
- Lidia Pozo Perez
- Yeakun Yoo
The soundtrack to Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is available to stream across all major platforms, and on physical CD and vinyl via G4F Records.
