The year 2000 saw the release of numerous video games as well as the launch of the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...
. Critically acclaimed games originally released in 2000 include sequels such as ''
Chrono Cross
is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is set in the same world as ''Chrono Trigger'', which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. ''Chrono Cros ...
'', ''
Baldur's Gate II
''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'' is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It is the sequel to '' Baldur's Gate'' (1998) and was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2000. Like ''Bald ...
'', ''
Diablo II'', ''
Dragon Quest VII'', ''
Final Fantasy IX'', ''
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel'', ''
NFL 2K1'', ''
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica'', ''
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'', and ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'' is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series of sports games and was released for the PlayStation in 2000, with subse ...
'', along with new
intellectual properties such as ''
Deus Ex'', ''
Jet Set Radio'', ''
Perfect Dark'', ''
Skies of Arcadia'', ''
The Sims'' and ''
Vagrant Story''. The year's best-selling home video games worldwide were ''
Pokémon
(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.
In terms of what each of thos ...
'' games for the third year in a row (
since 1998), while the highest-grossing
arcade game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade vi ...
in Japan was ''
Virtua Striker 2''.
Hardware releases
The list of game-related hardware released in 2000.
Top-rated games
Game of the Year awards
The following titles won
Game of the Year awards for 2000.
Critically acclaimed titles
''Famitsu'' Platinum Hall of Fame
The following video game releases in 2000 entered ''
Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
'' magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving
Famitsu scores
The Japanese video game magazine ''Famitsu'' reviews video games by having four critics each assign the game a score from 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest score. The scores of are then added together for a maximum possible score of 40. , twenty- ...
of at least 35 out of 40.
Metacritic and GameRankings
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
(MC) and
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
(GR) are aggregators of
video game journalism reviews.
Financial performance
Best-selling video game consoles
Best-selling home video games
The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 2000 in Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany.
The following titles were the top ten highest-grossing home video games of 2000 in the United States and Europe.
Japan
In Japan, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 2000.
United States
In the United States, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 2000.
The following titles were the year's top six highest-grossing home video game franchises in the United States, in terms of video game software sales revenue.
Europe
In Europe, the following titles were the top ten highest-grossing home video games of 2000.
In the United Kingdom and France, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of 2000.
In Germany, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of 2000.
Australia
In Australia, the following titles were the top ten best-selling
console games
A console game is a type of video game consisting of images and often sounds generated by a video game console, which are displayed on a television or similar audio-video system, and that can be manipulated by a player. This manipulation usually ...
of 2000.
Highest-grossing arcade games in Japan
In Japan, the following titles were the top ten highest-grossing
arcade games
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcad ...
of 2000.
Major events
Notable releases
Series with new installments include ''
Age of Empires
''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was '' Age of Empires'', released in 1997. Nine total games within the se ...
'', ''
Banjo-Kazooie
''Banjo-Kazooie'' is a series of video games developed by Rare. The games feature a male bear named Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Kazooie, who are both controlled by the player. Banjo originally made his debut as a play ...
'', ''
Command & Conquer
''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise, first developed by Westwood Studios. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself based on Westwood Studios' influential strategy game '' Du ...
'', ''
Diablo'', ''
Excite'', ''
Final Fantasy
is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The ...
'', ''
Grandia'', ''
The Legend of Zelda
''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-relea ...
'', ''
Madden NFL
''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 ...
'', ''
Marvel vs. Capcom'', ''
Mega Man Legends'', ''
Monkey Island'', ''
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a ...
'', ''
Need for Speed
''Need for Speed'' (''NFS'') is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games, the developers of ''Burnout''. The series generally centers around illicit street racing and tasks players to c ...
'', ''
Persona'', ''
Pokémon
(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.
In terms of what each of thos ...
'', ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'', ''
Ridge Racer
is a racing video game series developed and published for arcade systems and home game consoles by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. The first game, ''Ridge Racer'' (1993), was originally released in arcades for the Namco System 22 ha ...
'', ''
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...
'', ''
Spyro
''Spyro'' is a series of platform games which features the main protagonist Spyro, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998 with the PlayStation game '' Spyro the Dragon'', there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. Origin ...
'', ''
Tekken
is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.
The main games in the series ...
'', ''
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'', ''
Tony Hawk's
''Tony Hawk's'' is a skateboarding video game series published by Activision and endorsed by the American professional skateboarder of the same name. The series was primarily developed for home consoles by Neversoft from launch to 2007, unti ...
'', and ''
Wario''.
In addition, 2000 saw the introduction of several new properties, including ''
Counter-Strike'', ''
Deus Ex'', ''
Hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may b ...
'', ''
Jet Set Radio'', ''
Kessen'', ''
Mario Tennis
''Mario Tennis'' is a 2000 sports video game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Following '' Mario's Tennis'', it is the second game in the ''Mario Tennis'' series. The game is known for bein ...
'', ''
Midnight Club'', ''
Paper Mario'', ''
Perfect Dark'', ''
The Sims'', ''
SSX
''SSX'' is a series of snowboarding and skiing video games published by EA Sports. It is an arcade-style racing game with larger-than-life courses, characters, and tricks. While the general focus of the series is racing and performing tricks on ...
'', ''
TimeSplitters
''TimeSplitters'' is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by Free Radical Design. The games are often considered spiritual successors to '' GoldenEye 007'' and ''Perfect Dark'', due to overlapping elements in gameplay, design, ...
'', and ''
Total War
Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-com ...
''.
See also
*
2000 in games
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2000 in video games
Video games by year