The Recording Academy has announced today five new categories for the 2023 Grammys, including one for video game soundtracks. Titled "Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media," the category will target "a current video game or other interactive media" with a "score soundtrack albums comprised predominately of original scores," meaning it wouldn't count heavily licensed soundtracks, like a
Grand Theft Auto title or last year's
Guardians of the Galaxy game. Up until now, video game soundtracks would have been expected to compete with film and TV soundtracks in the "Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media" category, though no video game has ever been nominated.
The other new categories announced were "Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical," "Best Alternative Music Performance," "Best Americana Performance," and "Best Spoken Word Poetry Album."
The exact qualification period for the 2023 Grammys hasn't been announced yet, but it will begin on October 1, 2021, and will likely run through August or September of 2022. The ceremony typically takes place in January of each year, but the last two have been delayed to March or April due to COVID, so it's unclear when we can expect the 2023 ceremony.
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