Wilbert Roget II
Roget in 2025
Background information
Born	(1983-12-07) December 7, 1983 (age 42) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genres	Video game score film score
Occupation	Composer
Years active	2006–present
Label	Materia Collective

Wilbert Roget II (born December 7, 1983)^[1] is an American composer known for his work on video game music, particularly Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), Call of Duty: WWII (2017), Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (2014), Helldivers 2 (2024), and Star Wars Outlaws (2024). His scores have won multiple awards and nominations from the Game Audio Network Guild, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the BAFTA, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Early life and education

Roget grew up in Philadelphia and starting playing piano at the age of four.^[2] He became interested in the possibilities of cinematic storytelling in video games during high school, and found particular inspiration in Japanese video game and anime soundtracks such as Nobuo Uematsu's^[3] and Hitoshi Sakimoto's music for the Final Fantasy series^[4][5] and Yoko Kanno's music for Cowboy Bebop.^[6] He earned a BA in music at Yale University in 2005, studying with composition faculty including Kathryn Alexander and Matthew Suttor.

Career

Roget joined LucasArts as a staff composer in 2008, where he scored Star Wars franchise games including Star Wars: The Old Republic^[7] and served as music editor on various titles. His final soundtrack for LucasArts was the unreleased Star Wars: First Assault, a live orchestral score recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.^[8] He then left LucasArts to pursue a freelance career.

Working freelance, Roget has scored major titles such as Call of Duty: WWII, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, and Mortal Kombat 11, as well as independent titles such as Anew: The Distant Light. He often records his own flute, keyboard, accordion, and guitar parts. When discussing his influences, he often cites classical music; for example, his Call of Duty score was influenced by Claude Vivier's "Zipangu," Toru Takemitsu's "Requiem for String Orchestra," and Krzysztof Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima."^[9] In Forbes, Erik Kain declared that the Call of Duty score made him "an instant fan."^[6]

Roget is also a sample library developer, and products from his audio software company Impact Soundworks are widely used in film and video game composition.^[8]

Although Roget works primarily in the music industry, he is also active in academic music programs. He served as visiting faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 2018-2019 in the Department of Technology and Applied Composition,^[10] and has guest lectured at Yale University^[4] and the University of Rochester.^[11] In 2016, he completed a solo carillon commission, Island Stones, for the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He has also given talks and appeared on panels at the Game Developers Conference, ASCAP Expo, PAX, PAX Dev,^[12] and MAGFest.^[13]

Awards and recognition

Roget's scores have earned multiple awards and nominations from the Recording Academy, the Game Audio Network Guild (GANG) and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS). In 2025, Roget's score for Helldivers 2 earned him a "British Academy Games Award for Music" at the BAFTA Awards.^[14] Also in 2025, Roget's score for Star Wars Outlaws earned him a nomination for "Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media" at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.^[15] He also received two D.I.C.E. Award nominations for "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, for his works on Helldivers 2 (which he eventually won^[16]) and Star Wars Outlaws.^[17] In 2020, Roget's work on Mortal Kombat 11 garnered him another nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" at the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.^[18] In 2018, he swept the GANG Awards for Music of the Year, Best Interactive Score, Best Original Instrumental (tied), Best Game Audio Article/Publication, and Best Soundtrack Album for his Call of Duty: WWII soundtrack,^[19] which was also nominated for the D.I.C.E. Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition." In 2014, his soundtrack for Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris was nominated for the D.I.C.E. Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition", and the GANG Awards for Music of the Year and Best Original Instrumental. In 2012, his soundtrack for Star Wars: The Old Republic won the GANG Award for Best Original Instrumental. In 2009, his soundtrack for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was nominated for three GANG Awards. He also received GANG Awards in 2011, 2010, and 2006.^[20]

Discography

References

External links

• Official website