Winifred Phillips Wins Grammy for Best Video Game Soundtrack

At the 67th Grammy Awards, Winifred Phillips won the prestigious Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media for her work on Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. In her acceptance speech, Phillips expressed gratitude towards developer Digital Eclipse and the audience, highlighting their support and enthusiasm for video game music. She remarked, "It means so much."

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is a 3D remake of the original 1981 game, which holds the distinction of being the first party-based video game RPG. This pioneering title has inspired major franchises like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. The remake is built directly on the original game's code, allowing players to experience the classic Apple 2 interface during gameplay.

Winifred Phillips at the 67th Grammy Awards. Photo by Rich Polk/Billboard via Getty Images.

Phillips triumphed over strong competition, including Wilbert Roget, II for Star Wars Outlaws, John Paesano for Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Bear McCreary for God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, and Pinar Toprak for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. In a subsequent interview, Phillips shared her astonishment at the win, stating, "I really didn’t expect it. The category was populated with so much brilliance this year, and I have so much deep respect for the other nominees in this category. So to have been recognized is just a highlight of my career. It truly is."

Phillips elaborated on the unique nature of composing for video games, saying, "We do a very unique thing. We’re creating music that needs to accompany people who are having an experience and who are making choices, and having adventures and living a grand story, and we’re creating the music for that story. It’s such a wonderful privilege because you feel like you’re collaborating with the players. Like you know them and they know you. It’s really very special."

Previous recipients of this award include Stephanie Economou for Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The first video game music to win a Grammy was Christopher Tin's arrangement of "Baba Yetu" for Civilization 4, which won Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011.