Big-name celebs are fine, but Flute Guy’s return to The Game Awards was the main event

Alas, The Game Awards has come to an end—and while there’ve been plenty of exciting trailers and glitzy celeb appearances, it’s easy to get numb to the star factor. One returning guest, however, was far more welcome than any Hollywood name-drop: the man, the myth, the legend: Flute Guy. 

Arriving to the stage as part of The Game Awards orchestra, prolific musician and composer Pedro Eustache joined his contemporaries to play through the themes of this year’s winners. He took to the stage with his usual aplomb, advancing through several tiers of wind instrument before reaching his final form. Here’s a montage courtesy of Ratatoskr on YouTube, aptly titled “Flute Guy Goes Hard Again”—as well as some boots-on-the-ground footage by GameSpot’s managing editor Tamoor Hussain.

After a long ream of trailers, announcements, and criminally-short acceptance speeches, just seeing someone get up and stage and vibe is immaculate. And that’s not to discredit the work of the rest of the orchestra, who are doing an absolutely stunning job. But this man’s found himself, and that’s resonated with the gaming public at large.

(Image credit: @ArcanaLegacy on Twitter.)

(Image credit: @AlannaMode on Twitter/X.)

(Image credit: @EliraPendora on Twitter/X.)

In an interview with the Verge last year, Eustache touched on why he’s so dang enthusiastic about his performances at the show, despite being a self-described “dinosaur” that “doesn’t play video games.” Three simple words: “Music is music.” Eustache then went on to say that “if there’s good music, I play and respond the way I did at The Game Awards.” Some things are just universal.

Eustache himself has a long and illustrious career. Outside of games, he’s worked on Dune’s Oscar-Winning score with Hans Zimmer, while his resume proudly carries the names of composers like John Williams (Star Wars) and fellow musicians such as Paul McCartney. Y’know, from The Beatles? No big deal.

His return wasn’t a surprise, though. At the start of the month, Eustache announced he’d be coming back to the awards in a short video, opened by a beatboxing solo that presumably exists just to get the excitement outta his body. He’s backed by an armoury of instruments so numerous I didn’t even notice them at first, mistaking them for a wooden screen of some kind.

I figure Eustache’s particular brand of moxie resonates with us largely because, as people who play, write about, or make games—we’re all just kinda weird, right? 

Another musical highlight of the awards, in between all the glimmering trailers and celebrities, was a live performance of a song from Alan Wake 2. Which is a horror game that has a cheesy, stage-musical-style interlude segment played completely straight. Once you scrape away all the gaff we have to put up with to keep things profitable, everybody just wants to vibe like Eustache.