“There are so many innovative games coming up that I can’t wait for,” Game Developers Choice Awards host Sam Maggs said Thursday night. That doesn’t sound like the setup for a spot of black comedy, but wait until you hear the names of the games Maggs rattled off.
During Maggs’ pointed monologue, which preceded the award show’s innovation award, acclaimed composer Austin Wintory sat on stage playing a delicate song on a keyboard—a choice that was, itself, a bit of intentional commentary. Jump to the 1:00:23 mark above to watch this bit of the awards show play out.
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“Legitimately, this is music I wrote for a certain Humanoid games studio, my dream job of all time, and this is my very very public therapeutic coping mechanism for that project’s cancellation,” he said. “So at least now it’s at least been heard once in the world. That’s very exciting. I’m making some emotional progress.”
Wintory told PC Gamer that Mass Effect is not just his favorite game ever, but maybe his favorite anything ever, which is why the opportunity to work at Casey Hudson’s studio Humanoid Origin on what was meant to be a spiritual successor was the “dream job of all time.” Alas, the game itself never came to be: the studio closed in 2024, and Hudson is now staffing up to develop Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. At least a snippet of music that would’ve otherwise disappeared with the rest of the game made it out into the world.
Another piece of Wintory’s music accompanied the Game Developers Choice Awards’ In Memoriam segment honoring members of the games industry who died in the past year.
Among those honored in the In Memoriam segment were gaming pioneer Rebecca Heineman, the “father of Elder Scrolls” Julian Lefay, Respawn Entertainment founder Vince Zampella, and PC Gamer contributor Leif Johnson.