"Now that people are doing remasters and more and more games are starting to get re-released, we're starting to see issues"
What makes music licensing so complicated? Such issues have affected games such as Obsidian Entertainment's Alpha Protocol and Remedy's Alan Wake, both of which were removed from sale, although Alan Wake appeared back online after its music licenses were renegotiated. These deals can be very complicated due to a variety of reasons, from the length of the licensing agreement to future releases of video games affecting the original contract. When developers want to feature music by bands and artists in their game, a licensing deal needs to be made. It's a healthy relationship, but like all relationships it isn't without problems - and many of the problems associated with music licenses can cause some games to be removed from sale. Today, the relationship between the two industries is mutually beneficial: developers can license popular music to make their games appeal to certain audiences, while musicians benefit from instantaneous exposure to millions of new listeners (and usually a lot of money).
When CD quality audio became a reality, games like Road Rash, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, FIFA and Wip3out demonstrated that video games could be a new format to market music and drive sales.
Midway's 1983 arcade game Journey featured 8-bit arrangements of the titular band's music, and the 1988 hip-hop track Megablast by Bomb the Bass was the title music for Xenon 2 Megablast on the Amiga.Īs video game hardware evolved throughout the 80s and 90s, the technical limitations that had previously limited the use of music in games started to disappear, and the music industry saw a new opportunity. Video games have been using licensed music in their soundtracks since the 80s.