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Agence France-Presse

Far from the bleep-driven video game soundtracks of yesteryear, French composer Olivier Deriviere is determined to help craft the audio sensation of a medium he believes is still finding a voice of its own.
Deriviere’s twin passions for music and gaming have driven a career creating music for massive-selling games such as Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV, sometimes managing projects equal in scope to a film soundtrack.
“I think we need to get away from the reflex that we need to look at our ‘big brother’ cinema and say that we’re going to do the same thing,” Deriviere says.
“If you compare what video games offer in artistic terms, it’s vast compared to the cinema or theatre.”


Deriviere’s journey with games began very early in life, with the 46-year-old saying he has had consoles ever since he was six years old.
That passion has propelled him to create music for games including A Plague Tale: Innocence (2019), Streets of Rage 4 (2020) and Dying Light 2 Stay Human (2022).
But his current project, South of Midnight by Canadian developer Compulsion Games, is his biggest creation yet, he says.
The tracks borrow their sound from the American South setting of the adventure game, set for release on April 8.
More than 100 recording sessions have gone into the work, split between Nashville in the US, London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios and the composer’s own workspace in the Paris suburbs.


Deriviere enjoyed “a musical childhood” growing up in Nice, in southeast France, with his businessman father and choir-leader mother.
“When I was five years old, I was getting into U2 and Pink Floyd thanks to my dad, while my friends were listening to French songs,” he says.
It was at the same time that he was first exposed to video games.
“The day someone first showed me a Commodore 64 moving a pixel around, it set off a revolution in my brain,” he says.

He went as far as learning to code so that he could write music on the machine.
Deriviere struggled to find his niche, making false starts on several music and computing courses before securing a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, in the US state of Massachusetts.
A regular at the city’s Symphony Orchestra concerts, he struck up a friendship with John Williams, writer of soundtracks to many Steven Spielberg movies and the Star Wars saga.
Deriviere says that the film legend became an “example” for him, teaching him to be patient.
Since I play video games, I understand this language and that’s an advantage
Olivier Deriviere
Back in France, his first work on a game came with 2004’s Obscure, developed by a small studio.
Since then, he has worked on more than 20 releases, including the mega-blockbuster Assassin’s Creed IV.
“I got started in a tiny little room. A computer, two speakers and that was it,” he says with a smile.
Now in demand from international developers, he employs six people in his 300-square-metre (3,230-square-foot) studio.


A big fan of percussion, Deriviere clutches a pair of drumsticks as he wanders from the recording booths to the editing suites to keep up with multiple projects, some of which are still under wraps.
But in his spare minutes, he allows himself a few rounds of the tennis game Top Spin in a room stuffed with consoles going back decades.
“I’ve always played, I’ve never stopped,” he says.
For Deriviere, creating a piece of music has two stages: first writing a score, then integrating it into the game to reflect the player’s input.
The second task would normally be tackled by a game’s music designer, rather than the composer.
But “I do both,” Deriviere says. “Since I play video games, I understand this language and that’s an advantage.”

In South of Midnight, Deriviere is attentive to the actions of protagonist Hazel, accompanied by a choir of girls’ voices, as well as developing the tracks connected with the vast creatures that inhabit the game’s universe.
He is not a one-trick pony, having also composed the music for the 2023 horror movie The Deep Dark and an episode of the TV series Star Wars: Visions, in another tie-back to mentor Williams.
But linear filmmaking cannot keep him away from the “unique experience” of games for long.
“It’s up to us to bring new experiences to players,” he says.


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French video game music composer Olivier Deriviere, who has worked on games including Assassin’s Creed IV,  A Plague Tale: Innocence, Streets of Rage 4 and Dying Light 2 Stay Human, works in his recording studio in Malakoff, on the outskirts of Paris, on January 14, 2025. Photo: AFP

Deriviere plays a video game in his recording studio in Malakoff. Photo: AFP

Deriviere says more than 100 recording sessions have gone into work for South of Midnight, out in April. Photo: AFP

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For music composer Olivier Deriviere, whose games include Assassin’s Creed IV and South of Midnight, being a gamer gives him an edge


For music composer Olivier Deriviere, whose games include Assassin’s Creed IV and South of Midnight, being a gamer gives him an edge.


Video gaming

France