Shropshire game's soundtrack sparks row

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was released last week to good reviews and promising sales.

It allows the player to roam around countryside inspired by Shropshire in a world where the entire population has disappeared.

The makers, Brighton-based Chinese Room, have created a fictional Shropshire village called Youghton. Creative director Dan Pinchbeck said Shropshire was chosen because it was quintessentially English and the perfect foil for a sinister game scenario.

The game has been praised for its graphics, which include landscapes similar to the Shropshire hills as well as specific landmarks like railways that resemble the Severn Valley Railway. But it is the music that accompanies the game that has created controversy.

The Official Charts Company last week removed the game's soundtrack from the Classical Artist Albums Chart, saying it had been placed there in error.

But studio head and composer at The Chinese Room Jessica Curry took to Twitter to complain about the removal. She suspected the soundtrack would have been number one in the classical chart had it been included.

She also pointed out that the The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra's The Complete Harry Potter Film Music is currently 29th in the chart.

The Official Charts Company's Lauren Kreisler said the Everybody's Gone to the Rapture soundtrack was moved to "the correct" chart after appearing in "the wrong" chart the week before.

The general chart rules for the genre are that original soundtracks and scores performed in a classical style, by either a single artist or various artists, are not eligible for the pure Official Classical Artist Albums Chart, The Official Charts Company said.

These instead contribute towards the separate Official Soundtrack Albums Chart.

To complicate matters further, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture and Harry Potter are both eligible for alternative The Classic FM Chart, which The Official Charts Company also compiles, based on different rules. Rapture's soundtrack has been released by the Sony Classical label and The Official Charts Company insists it does consider it "a bona fide classical album", and this is reflected in the fact it appears in the Official Classic FM Chart.