VGMdb's scope has been an often-debated topic since its inception. While we began as a database for video game music, that quickly expanded in 2009 when we reformulated as 'The Music of Visual Arts and Games.' We rebranded because our love of game music crossed over into adjacent genres, particularly anime and manga. The last decade has seen continual friction over what 'visual arts' really mean, and what albums are eligible here. This was additionally hampered by a set of rules that were difficult to find, enforce, or even explain. In addition, our interests and coverage have expanded organically over the years, but this hasn't officially been addressed Given these circumstances, we were long overdue for a formalization of our scope. The new scope is described here.
Mainly, the new scope defines the visual arts we are cataloging here, and includes some additional visual arts (like tokusatsu) that we have unofficially allowed here for a long time. In addition, the scope broadens the eligibility of albums that fill out discographies of composers and arrangers. To support the new scope, we implemented the changes outlined in this post.