Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Snubbed at the 2026 Grammys as Assassin's Creed and Journey Composer Offers to Give Up His Spot
Austin Wintory would give up his nomination and hand it to the French RPG.
The 2026 Grammy nominations landed yesterday, and while games finally have a proper seat at the music table, one of this year’s most talked-about RPGs somehow didn’t get an invite. The Recording Academy rolled out its picks for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, and the lineup is solid... but also pretty heavy on film IP. Meanwhile, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is nowhere to be found.
The category at a glance
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - Secrets of the Spires — Pinar Toprak
- Helldivers 2 — Wilbert Roget
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle — Gordy Haab
- Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card & A Pirate's Fortune — Cody Matthew Johnson & Wilbert Roget
- Sword of the Sea — Austin Wintory
Yes, that is three nominees tied to major movie franchises. Just saying.
Austin Wintory is thrilled... and also not
Sword of the Sea composer Austin Wintory, a three-time Grammy nominee you probably know from Journey, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Abzu, and The Banner Saga, made the cut. He was gracious about it, but he also used his moment to call out what he sees as a miss by the Academy.
"Congrats to my friends and thank you to Recording Academy for including Sword of the Sea at the '26 Grammys. I'm sad at the lack of Expedition 33 among them. I would happily trade places. That score is the *definition* of worthy!"
Why the Expedition 33 snub stings
Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn’t some niche critical darling that slipped under the radar. It is one of the best-reviewed games of the year. On top of that, Lorien Testard’s soundtrack has been a legit breakout, sitting at No. 1 on the Billboard Classical chart for 10 straight weeks. That is not normal for a game score.
So yeah, being shut out here is surprising. Odd, even.
What happens next
The game’s reputation is snowballing, with folks like Final Fantasy 7’s Naoki Hamaguchi publicly hyping it up. If the industry chatter is any indication, Expedition 33 is likely to scoop up some end-of-year hardware even if the Grammys whiffed this round.
And for anyone enjoying the game’s unapologetically French flair, the team is very aware of it. The studio lead even joked it would be hard to crank the Frenchness higher unless they "put snails and frogs everywhere in the next game." Please do not tempt them.