Nobuo Uematsu Criticizes Decline of Creative Freedom in Game Music
- ⚡Xe⚡
- Sep 11
- 2 min read
Nobuo Uematsu spoke with Real Sound about the current state of game music. He said composers today have less freedom than before, as directors and producers hold too much influence over creative decisions.
“I won’t go as far as to call it stagnation, but I believe directors and producers hold too much power in their hands even when it comes to the music. Even now, game composers aren’t in a position to speak their opinion freely, and no matter how much musical knowledge or technical skills they possess, they’re still in a position where it’s difficult to speak their mind. There are almost no game producers who are well versed in worldwide entertainment and are familiar with a wide variety of musical genres, so anything goes for them as long as you make it sound like a John Williams movie soundtrack.”
He explained that settling for familiar sounds limits progress and suggested that experimentation is essential to keeping music engaging. He pointed to Elton John as an example of an artist who balanced commercial expectations while continuing to make strong music after his 1970s peak.
“If you make the same stuff as John Williams and grow complacent with that, you’ll get nothing more from it. Now, what if someone put a bit of techno in there – what kind of sound would it become then? I believe that would be a good way to approach music.”
Uematsu added that most modern compositions rely too heavily on predictable synth-based sounds.
“The mainstream approach is to use soothing digital synth sounds with a sequencer, without ever letting it break that mold. Frankly speaking, there’s less ‘weird things’ now.”
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-⚡Xe⚡
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