Clair Obscur snubbed in Grammy video game soundtrack nominations
This year’s Grammy games noms include Helldivers 2 and Star Wars Outlaws
The 2026 Grammy nominations have been announced, including the five video games up for Best Soundtrack.
Games nominated in the video game category this year include Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – Secrets of the Spires (Pinar Toprak), Helldivers 2 (Wilbert Roget), Indiana Jones And The Great Circle (Gordy Haab), Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card & A Pirate’s Fortune (Cody Matthew Johnson & Wilbert Roget, II), and Sword of the Sea (Austin Wintory).
Helldivers 2, despite releasing before this year’s eligibility window of August 2024 – 2025, is able to be included due to its soundtrack being released much later than the game launch.
The biggest surprise, however, is arguably a title missing from the list. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the second-highest rated new game of the year, has been No. 1 on the Billboard Classical charts for ten weeks, and composer Lorien Testard recently won the WSA Game Music Award.
Publisher Kepler submitted Clair Obscur for consideration in two Grammy categories: Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games, and Best Song Written for Visual Media.
This is the third time the Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media award has been featured in the Grammy Awards, having made its debut at the 2023 ceremony.
According to the Recording Academy, the award “recognizes excellence in score soundtrack albums comprised predominantly of original scores and created specifically for, or as a companion to, a current video game or other interactive media released within the qualification period.”
The inaugural winner of the award in 2023 was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, whose Dawn of Ragnarök DLC score by Stephanie Economou beat out Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Old World.
The 2024 award was won by Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, composed by Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab. It beat Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, God of War Ragnarök, Hogwarts Legacy, and Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical.
The 2025 Grammy went to Winifred Phillips’ score for Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, beating Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Star Wars Outlaws.
