With campuses in Paris, Nice, Montreal, and Tokyo, the "Best Video Game School in the World" (as proudly stated on its website) is putting its students under an even brighter spotlight. It is part of a subtle trend I’ve noticed over the last few months: ISART DIGITAL is updating its music catalog on streaming platforms almost weekly. Today, no fewer than nine games are being highlighted across its Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz pages.
These relatively short albums are tied to student projects that are all now available for free on Steam via the school’s official publisher page. It is a remarkable initiative by ISART DIGITAL, showcasing the work of junior developers who, now more than ever, will have to prove their worth to find their footing in an industry that has become increasingly hostile to new hires.
Last March, the hack-and-slash game Candellum won the 2026 Pégase Award for Best Student Game at the eponymous ceremony celebrating French video game creation.
As I work my way through the various projects while writing these lines, I highly recommend checking out the narrative game Isle Be There and its wonderfully subtle ambient soundtrack; the gorgeous twin-stick shooter Echoes of Above with its epic folk-orchestral music; Kinetic Twinz and its groovy rock-infused breakbeat; the sweet melodies of The Light That Binds Us, carried by the enchanting voice of Aeralie Brighton; and the urban house vibes of Off Gridders.
It's no secret that France has been on top of the VGM world since last year, thanks to a newcomer nobody saw coming—Lorien Testard and his already cult soundtrack for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which has racked up over 50 million streams on Spotify.
According to my data, in 2025, France was the fifth-largest producer of video game music in the world, trailing only the United Kingdom, China, Japan, and the United States.
