8 Biggest Unsung Heroes Working In The Video Game Industry

3. Yoko Shimomura - Creating An Atmosphere Through Incredible Music

As far as video game composers go, they don't come much better than Yoko Shimomura. I mean, she's worked on Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy - AKA two of the biggest and most iconic franchises in the medium - and the music that's been produced on them? it can only be described as beautiful.

There were of course many other people I could've mentioned on here, but Shimomura is by far one of the most talented in the industry. Heck, I'm not even a big Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts fan; the music itself is just really, really captivating.

As a medium, video games are home to some of the most unique and diverse soundtracks in popular culture. It has everything from low-key 8-bit anthems to bombastic orchestral symphonies, and all (and I do mean all) are able to spirit us away to another reality. A lack of music can indeed compliment certain aspects of gameplay (we all know survival horrors love using creepy noises as a soundtrack itself), but to see the medium embrace and understand the sheer emotional power that can come with a truly wonderful soundtrack is, well, amazing.

If we have anyone to thank for kickstarting this trend, it would have to be Shimomura.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.