Austin Wintory

Austin Wintory (born September 9, 1984) is an American composer for film and video games.^[1] He is known for scoring the video games Flow and Journey, the latter of which made history as the only video game soundtrack to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.^[2][3]

Austin Wintory
Wintory at the Game Developers Conference in 2024
Background information
Born	(1984-09-09) September 9, 1984 (age 40) Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Genres	classical rock, electronic rock
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor
Years active	2002–present
Spouse	Angela Bermúdez ​ (m. 2024)​
Website	Official website

Early life

Austin Wintory was born in Denver, Colorado in 1984 and started learning piano when he was ten years old,^[4] after he was introduced to composer Jerry Goldsmith by his teacher. Before the age of ten, Wintory did not play any instruments and barely listened to music.^[5] By the age of sixteen, Wintory started writing for and conducting the Cherry Creek High School Orchestra during their performances of the "Spirit of the Cosmos" pieces. Two years later, at the age of eighteen, Wintory conducted the Utah Symphony during its recording of "Cosmos", which became one of his most popular projects, although he refers to it as "atrocious garbage".^[5] Since 2003, Wintory has composed over three hundred musical scores.^[5]

Career

Beginning of game composing career and Flow

Wintory recording 'Traveler: A Journey Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra

Wintory met Jenova Chen while both attended the University of Southern California (USC).^[6] After networking with an interactive media student at USC and scoring a small game project, his name was passed along to Chen, who asked Wintory to score his thesis project, Flow,^[6] later re-released on PlayStation Network. Wintory, Chen and Nick Clarke developed the first version of Flow as a three-man team, with Wintory remarking that Chen had an incredible way of processing information, seeing far beyond code and reaching into the emotional implications of things.^[6] As a traditional orchestral student at the time, Wintory considered the music of Flow was radically unlike any he had written before.^[6] Wintory regards the pink area of the game, where the player controls a jellyfish-like creature, as the humorous area of the game, describing his music for it as almost "circus-like" compared to the overall soundtrack.^[6]

Monaco

Originally, Monaco developer Andy Schatz sought out licensed music as a backdrop to the game's setting, feeling that the style of music needed was too esoteric to hire a composer. Wintory, however, was able to convince Schatz that he could create an original score that fit the project's vision. Likening 2D sprite-based games to the silent film era, Wintory agreed with the notion that the soundtrack to a game like Monaco should have an earnest yet self-aware nostalgic feeling, stating "There's no way to just objectively listen to that style of music without automatically being like 'This reminds me of a bygone era.'"^[6] Wintory was excited at the chance to create an old-timey score with wit and humor, stating "when else am I ever going to be asked to write anything remotely like this?"^[6]

Works

Films

Year	Film
2004	Nuts & Bolts
	One Three Zero
	Blind Visions
	Man Child
	Alter Ego
	Love Parade
2005	It's About Ugliness
	Not Too Long Ago
	We Gonna Get Ronald Kim
	Keepsakes
	Painting Ava
	New York
	TAG
2006	Vollarians, Unite!
	Oleg's Overcoat
	Long After...
	The Sunset Sky
	Project: Illegal Alien
	Happy Days
	The Good Man
	The Late Bloomer
	Confessions
	The Proposal
	The Professor's Daughter
	Johnny Montana
2007	Mr. Sadman
	Captain Abu Raed
	If You Could Have
	Back Soon
	Serpent and the Sun
2008	Knuckle Draggers
	Print
	Grace
	Live Evil
	3-Day Weekend
	The Acquirer
	TK's Corner
	Hubristic
2009	A Little Help
	The Sunset Sky
	The River Why
	The Echo Game
	Make the Yuletide Gay
2010	A Beautiful Game
	Leave
	Playing House
	Majid
	Workshop
	Let the Game Begin
	The Incredible Adventures of Jojo
2011	Remnants
	Home Run Showdown
	The Grief Tourist
	Junction
2012	Strangely in Love
	Inverse
	Targeting
	The War Around Us
	It's a Disaster
	Lost on Purpose
	Aftermath
2013	Targeting
	Inverse
2015	The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackdown
	Dark Summer
	Tales of Halloween
	The Rendezvous
	Standoff
2016	After the Sun Fell
	Diane
	Mercury Plains
2017	Legacy
	The Last Movie Star
	Bullet Head
2018	Tread
	Big Dogs
2019	Clean
2020	Born a Champion
2021	One Shot
	Ire
	A Violent Man
2022	Thai Cave Rescue

Games

Year	Game	Developer
2002	Ages of Athiria (Theme Only)	Elysian Productions
2006	Flow	Thatgamecompany
2007	Flow Expansion Pack	Thatgamecompany, Super Villain Studios
	GroundTruth: Toxic City	Sandia Nat’l Lab, USC-Gamepipe
	Replay	Take Action Games
2008	GroundTruth 2: Lock Down	Sandia Nat’l Lab, USC-Gamepipe
	My Virtual Tutor	1st Playable Productions
2010	Census	Draft FCB
	Super Awesome Mountain RPG	Codename Games
2012	Journey	Thatgamecompany
	Horn	Phosphor Games
	Kinetic Party	Double Fine Productions
2013	Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine	Pocketwatch Games
	Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded [7]	N-Fusion Interactive
	Dropchord	Double Fine Productions
2014	Soul Fjord	Airtight Games
	Sunset	Tale of Tales
	The Banner Saga	Stoic
2015	The Order: 1886 (co-writer of The Knights theme, with Jason Graves)	Ready at Dawn, Santa Monica Studio
	Assassin's Creed Syndicate	Ubisoft Quebec
	The Path to Luma	Phosphor Games
2016	The Banner Saga 2	Stoic
	Abzû	Giant Squid Studios
2017	Deformers	Ready at Dawn
	Absolver	Sloclap
	Tooth and Tail	Pocketwatch Games
	Luna	Funomena
2018	Pode	Henchman & Goon
	The Banner Saga 3	Stoic
	Command and Conquer: Rivals	Electronic Arts
2019	Erica	Flavourworks, London Studio
	John Wick Hex	Bithell Games
	The Bradwell Conspiracy	A Brave Plan, Bossa Studios
2020	The Pathless	Giant Squid
	AGOS: A Game of Space	Ubisoft
2021	Aliens: Fireteam Elite	Cold Iron Studios
2022	Monaco 2	Pocketwatch Games
	HUSH - Crane	Flavourworks
2023	Strayed Lights	Embers
	Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical	Summerfall Studios
2024	BitCraft (with co-composer Rachel Hardy)	Clockwork Labs
	Hades 2 (with co-composer Darren Korb)	Supergiant Games
2025	Eternal Strands	Yellow Brick Games

Awards

List of awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result	Ref.
2007	British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)	Innovation	Flow (Jenova Chen, Nicholas Clark, Austin Wintory)	Nominated	[8]
2012	Video Game Awards	Best Original Score	Journey	Nominated	[9]
2012	Video Games Awards	Best Song in a Game	Journey	Nominated	[10]
2012	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media	Journey	Won	[11]
2012	Spike Video Game Awards	Best Song in a Game	"I Was Born for This" – Journey	Nominated	[12]
2013	Game Developers Choice Awards	Best Audio	Journey	Won	[13]
2013	British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)	Audio Achievement	Journey	Won	[14]
2013	British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)	Original Music	Journey	Won	[14]
2013	D.I.C.E. Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition	Journey	Won	[15]
2013	Grammy Awards	Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media	Journey	Nominated	[16]
2014	NAVGTR Awards	Original Dramatic Score, New IP	The Banner Saga	Nominated	[17]
2014	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media	The Banner Saga	Nominated	[18]
2015	British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)	Best Music	The Banner Saga	Nominated	[19]
2015	British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)	Audio Achievement	The Banner Saga	Nominated	[19]
2015	SXSW Gaming Awards	Excellence in Musical Scoring	The Banner Saga	Nominated	[20]
2015	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Music of the Year	Assassin's Creed Syndicate	Nominated	[21]
2015	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Original Soundtrack Album	Assassin's Creed Syndicate	Nominated	[21]
2015	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Original Instrumental	Assassin's Creed Syndicate – "The Assassin's Two Step"	Nominated	[21]
2015	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media	Assassin's Creed Syndicate	Won	[22]
2016	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media	Abzû	Won	[23]
2016	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media	The Banner Saga 2	Nominated	[23]
2017	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media	Deformers	Nominated	[24]
2017	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film	The Rendezvous	Nominated	[24]
2017	British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)	Music	Abzû	Nominated	[25]
2017	D.I.C.E. Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition	Abzû	Nominated	[26]
2017	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Original Soundtrack	Abzû	Won	[21]
2018	Hollywood Music in Media Awards	Original Score — Independent Film	The Last Movie Star	Nominated	[27]
2018	Hollywood Music in Media Awards	Original Score — Video Game	Pode	Nominated	[27]
2018	Hollywood Music in Media Awards	Original Song — Video Game	"Only We Few Remember it Now" (The Banner Saga 3)	Won	[27]
2019	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Original Soundtrack	Pode	Nominated	[21]
2019	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Original Song "Only We Few Remember It Know"	The Banner Saga 3	Nominated	[21]
2019	International Film Music Critics Association Awards	Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media	Erica	Nominated	[28]
2020	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Interactive Score	Erica	Won	[21]
2020	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Original Instrumental	Erica	Won	[29]
2020	D.I.C.E. Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition	Erica	Nominated	[30]
2021	Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Music for an Indie Game	The Pathless	Won	[31]
2021	D.I.C.E. Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition	The Pathless	Nominated	[32]
2023	Grammy Awards	Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media	Aliens: Fireteam Elite	Nominated	[33][34][35]
2024	Grammy Awards	Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media	Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical	Nominated	[36][37]