I remember a while back a critiquer of video games complained about Forza Horizon 5's soundtrack, and while I haven't played it yet, it does remind me of some games where the licensed soundtracks got less and less good. Number one culprit for me would be NFS Hot Pursuit reboot. Admittedly the last NFS games I played were the original Most Wanted, Underground 2, and Hot Pursuit 2, which if nothing else had some harder edged rock music that I remember fondly, but then I boot this game up and listen a while and the soundtrack is some wimpy stuff. I dunno if it's tastes in music changing or if Criterion, which doesn't have the best tastes in soundtracks based on their past Burnout titles, is at fault. I know rock music fell out of favor the past decade and is no longer mainstream, but I still hear loads of great stuff that's niche. Thanks media consolidation.

But I also notice the decline in some other series. I went back to Saints Row 1 and was surprised how good the rock stations in the game were, made me throw some of it on my own playlists even. 2 was a downgrade. There seemed to be less overall music, the regular rock station was now dedicated to pop punk, the indie station is better but not great, the metal station I have mixed opinions on because on one hand I never associate hair metal with metal but it's just that era's fixation on metalcore and groove metal is something that did not age well, hip hop was stripped down to one barebones station, and the electronic station was garbage, but there is admittedly more variety. Then Saints 3 came along, I could not find a station to jive with, everything was puerile garbage. Saints 4 stripped it down further, but uh I guess the throwback station is decent this time around. Not crossing my fingers for the next game but I'm always down for pleasant surprises.

So I'll ask what licensed soundtracks you were disappointed by, found distasteful, whathaveyou. Or discuss music in general, open discussion on that.

Any use of a licensed song is a lame one, as it turns the game into a ticking time bomb.

You thought losing the code to a game was bad? How about having Lynyrd Skynyrd refuse to sign? Heck, this could even happen with internal musicians depending on the deal. Like that reprobate warcrime denier, Koichi Sugiyama, who was infamously stingy with compositions, in addition to his crimes. This is why Super Smash Bros and other games had to settle for crappy MIDI renditions of otherwise classic Dragon Quest compositions.

You always have to make it political dont ya Darvond?
Also I did not know that about Koichi Sugiyama, learn something new everyday.

Could you please define "lame" in an objective way.

Ever heard the expressions: "different strokes for different folks", or "everybody has their own taste"?

See? And that is why you can't define "lame" in an objective way.
Which is also why there's no definition of "not lame", that could be applied to put together a soundtrack, that appeals to everyone.

So, you have some soundtracks, that you like? Great! Enjoy them.

But you have to be aware that out there are hundreds of thousands of people who had to "suffer" through these exact soundtracks, as you now have to "suffer" through some new ones - and for the exact same reasons.

Tastes are different - always have been, always will be.
And the Zeitgeist is changing - constantly.

Oh, and to back up Darvond here:
if you are interested in new games coming to GOG - (licensed) OSTs are among the worst offenders when it comes to reasons, why many new games will never be released here.

Or at the very least: not released in a state that fans of the original would want to buy.

Edit: some typos fixed

Lame; /leɪm/, slang, adjective: Failing to be cool, funny, interesting or relevant to Warloch_Ahead's highly discerning interests. This feels weirdly passive aggressive for an otherwise dumb opinion piece. I never said today's music was garbage, though admittedly hearing "hits" at work constantly kind of goes against the notion of "the zeitgeist is changing constantly" at least where I'm currently living. I do not live in a hip, young, cool area. Not to mention all the '80s nostalgia that was cute when the '80s were only 20 years old, not 30. I wasn't aware using GOG's forums meant you had to disregard all other forms of gaming, despite all the threads whining about GOG.

Flatout 2 has Nickleback songs in it and though I'm not a habitual hater of them, the songs of theirs in the game aren't good at all in my opinion.

I prefer original scores in games myself. It shows that the music department put in effort. 'Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' has a killer composition.

I love the Hellblade soundtrack and listen to it often. Ir's a way to relive the emotions that the game evoked while playing. But coincidentally, the game also has two licensed songs by VNV Nation (during the final cinematic and the ending credits), which I think fit the tone and message of the game perfectly.