Sound design in games rarely gets the same attention as graphics, but games today really do have extraordinarily detailed and interesting soundscapes. Microsoft thinks so, bringing two auditory environments from Halo Infinite and Sea of Thieves to the meditation app Calm.
It’s minor news and, in a sense, just a promo for the games and Calm, but it’s also fun to watch happen. I vividly remember game themes from all my life; I wake up every day to the NES Kid Icarus title theme, and the soundtracks from games like Stardew Valley, Fez, and more recently Elden Ring and Genshin Impact run regularly.
If playing games is a time when you feel happy, calm, and focused, the sounds of their surroundings may help you achieve that state at other times. (While I was raging at every boss in Elden Ring, the themes of Limgrave and Altus put me at ease.)
So while Halo is a game about a futuristic super soldier who shoots aliens to hell and you have to dodge cannonballs and sea creatures in Sea of Thieves, these popular games have evocative environments that could very well help one get into a mental zone which is conducive to meditation or simply attention and focus. The two games will soon be available to paying Calm users.
The crossover is only part of one bigger message about mental health on Xbox Wirewith people sharing how games got them through dark times, and resources for people who may be going through them right now.
