Who is The Game Awards’ Flute Guy? Pedro Eustache trends online as he steals the show with viral performance

On December 11, the Flute Guy left a mark with his performance at The Game Awards, held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The show was also streamed live on Twitch, YouTube, and Prime Video.

For those unaware, the Flute Guy’s real name is Pedro Eustache. He is a Venezuelan flautist, reed and woodwind player, music composer, and instrument maker/ collector.

Eustache’s recent performance has him trending across social media platforms, with viral images and videos surfacing. Here are some of the reactions from X.

“Give this man a game award himself for going so insanely hard FLUTE GUY WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO #TheGameAwards,” a fan wrote.

“FLUTE GUY IS THE GOAT #TheGameAwards,” another fan wrote.

“THE MAN, THE GOAT, THE LEGENDARY ‘FLUTE GUY,’ THE KING HAS RETURNED @EustachePedro is always a highlight of this show & he's out here with quick select in real-time. He's so powerful #TheGameAwards,” a netizen wrote.

“It's not #TheGameAwards without national treasure, Flute Guy, Pedro Eustache,” another netizen wrote.

“No Half Life 3, but at least we got the Flute Guy,” a gaming fan wrote.

This is not the first time Pedro Eustache, 66, has taken to the stage of The Game Awards. He has been doing that for the last three years, with his first appearance being at the 2022 ceremony, when he joined the Game Awards Orchestra (has been a member since 2017).

His performance, especially his transition during the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (featuring a Japanese flute in gameplay) medley, made him a fan-favorite. In fact, the words #FluteGuy began trending on Twitter for an entire night.

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All you need to know about the Flute Guy

Pedro Eustache was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. He began playing the flute and other wind instruments at a young age, inspired by his brother Michel. Soon, he joined the Venezuelan Youth National Orchestra, locally known as ‘El Sistema', as well as the Simon Bolivar Orchestra as a solo principal flautist.

Later, he studied music in Europe on a scholarship funded by the Venezuelan government. Later, the Flute Guy earned an M.F.A. degree in jazz from the California Institute of the Arts. He also went to India and China to learn about oriental music.

Eustache told The Verge during a 2022 conversation:

“When I got to Paris, I discovered Ravi Shankar and Indian music. I discovered [music from] West Africa. I discovered Arabic music and Japanese music, and those things kept my sanity because practising in the rigid system of Western classical music almost drove me nuts.”

Over a four-decade-long career, Pedro Eustache has performed solo and in groups across various venues. For instance, in 2014, he performed his “Multidirectional Flute” composition at a solo concert in Paris, France. That same year, he inaugurated the third International Spanish Flute Convention in Seville, France.

Apart from the USA and Europe, Eustache also appeared in concerts in Lebanon and Armenia. He has also extended his talent to Hollywood, including contributing to the soundtrack of the 2004 epic Biblical drama The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson.

Three years later, Pedro worked on Hans Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, for which he received the 2007 Film & TV Music Award. Other film credits include The Body, Dune, Dune: Part Two, Kung Fu Panda, and the Indiana Jones franchise.

In 2006, Pedro Eustache was nominated for an Academy Award and a Grammy Award in the Best Soundtrack category for his work on Steven Spielberg’s 2005 epic historical drama movie Munich.

The Flite Guy worked as a featured soloist on the 2005 Grammy Award-winning “Concert For George,” which was a tribute to George Harrison at the Royal Albert Hall in London in November 2002. He also partnered with Ramin Djawadi and HBO on the 2017 Game of Thrones live concert tour.

Eustache has teamed up with Paul McCartney on his various songs, including Jenny Wren and Fine Line, as well as the studio album, Egypt Station. His other collaborator is Greek composer Yanni, Persian pop icon Googoosh, and Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Dudamel.

Pedro has also performed with A-listers such as Gloria Estefan, Sheila E, Don Henley, and Hans Zimmer. Most recently, he toured with Zimmer in April 2025.

The Flute Guy also taught music at Samford University in the USA in 2014. He makes his own instruments using everything, from flower pots to ostrich eggs.

His official website has the famous quote he preaches, which reads:

"God made me a musician to keep me humble for the rest of my life."

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Geoff Keighley, the man behind the annual Game Awards, also invites Pedro Eustache to his other events, including the Summer Game Fest every year since 2023.

During a December 2022 interview with The Verge, Eustache confessed that despite performing at these video game events, he didn’t know much about them.

“Gosh, this is so embarrassing. But I cannot but speak the truth. I hope they don’t mind me. I come from a generation in which my video games are me playing my instruments and playing music deep into my craft. I might be the only dinosaur in the whole history of humanity that doesn’t play video games,” he said back then.

Eustache added, “I can see that the music of many [games] is so incredible, so epic, that if I start going from what I hear to get tempted into [playing] them, I don’t think I would have a life.”

It is noteworthy that Pedro was the soloist on the Genshin Impact concert and played his flute in the introduction of the League of Legends. He also told the publication that he found the music of other video games, such as Horizon and Xenoblade, “incredible and fantastic.”