Untitled Goose Game
A still from the 2019 video game Untitled Goose Game

Game Changer

The video game industry now dwarfs both the film and video streaming industries, bringing music to millions around the world. Angus McPherson speaks to the composers and conductors who are making their mark on the genre, among them Australian Dan Golding, whose Debussy-based soundtrack for the hit Untitled Goose Game became the first game soundtrack nominated for an ARIA.

A few tentative notes from the final piece in Debussy’s first book of Préludes creep forward as a goose closes in on the turned back of a man tending his garden. The piano bursts into a flurry of notes as the goose’s beak clamps onto a ring of keys on the...