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 Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

. Critically acclaimed games originally released in 2000 include sequels such as '' Madden NFL 2001'', '' NBA Live 2001'', ''

NBA 2K1 ''NBA 2K1'' is a 2000 sports video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by Sega. It was the first ''NBA 2K'' game to feature online multiplayer and the first game to feature street courses instead of playing a game inside the arena in ...

'', '' WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role'', '' Baldur's Gate II'', ''

Diablo II ''Diablo II'' is a 2000 action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and OS X. The game, with its dark fantasy and horror themes, was conceptualized and des ...

'', ''

Dragon Quest VII ''Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past'' is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Heartbeat and ArtePiazza, and published by Enix for the PlayStation. The game was produced by Yuji Horii, who has presided over the ''Dragon Qu ...

'', ''

Final Fantasy IX is a 2000 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the ninth game in the main ''Final Fantasy'' series. The plot focuses on a wa ...

'', '' Metal Gear: Ghost Babel'', ''

NFL 2K1 ''NFL 2K1'' is an American football simulation video game that uses remediation, and was published by Sega and developed by Visual Concepts. It was released on Dreamcast on September 7, 2000, with multiple in-game commercialization like its Dream ...

'', '' Resident Evil – Code: Veronica'', '' Spyro: Year of the Dragon'', '' The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'', and ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'' is a 2000 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft for PlayStation and Natsume for Game Boy Color. Published by Activision, it is the second installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series of sports games, and was ...

'', along with new

intellectual properties Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

such as ''

Deus Ex ''Deus Ex'' is a series of cyberpunk role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technol ...

'', ''Hitman'', ''

Jet Set Radio (originally released in North America as ''Jet Grind Radio'') is a 2000 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. The player controls a member of a youth gang, the GG's, as they use inline skates to traverse ...

'', ''

Perfect Dark ''Perfect Dark'' is a 2000 first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The first game of the '' Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research centre, as she attempts ...

'', ''

Skies of Arcadia ''Skies of Arcadia'' is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Overworks and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. Players control Vyse, a young air pirate, and his friends as they attempt to stop the Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapo ...

'', ''

The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and Video game publisher, published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and is one of the List of best-selling video game fran ...

'', ''

SSX ''SSX'' (standing for "Snowboard Supercross") is a series of Snowboarding video games, snowboarding video games Video game publisher, published by EA Sports, created by Steve Rechtschaffner, who is the inventor of the Olympic Games, Olympic snow ...

'', ''

Vagrant Story is a 2000 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation. The game has been re-released by Square Enix through the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita consoles. '' ...

'', and ''

Sin and Punishment ''Sin and Punishment'' is a rail shooter video game co-developed by Treasure and Nintendo for the Nintendo 64, and released in Japan in 2000. Its story takes place in the near future of 2007 when war breaks out as humanity is struggling with a g ...

''. The year's best-selling home video games worldwide were ''

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

'' 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 game of skill, games of skill and in ...

in Japan was ''

Virtua Striker 2 is a sports video game developed and published by Sega for arcades in 1997. It is the sequel to the 1994 video game ''Virtua Striker'', and the second game in the ''Virtua Striker'' series. A series of updates was released from 1998 to 1999, st ...

''.

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 Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...

awards for 2000.

Critically acclaimed titles

''Famitsu'' Platinum Hall of Fame

The following video game releases in 2000 entered ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly 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. , thirty ...

of at least 35 out of 40.

Metacritic and GameRankings

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

(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 Video game journalism (also called games journalism or video game criticism) is a specialized branch of journalism that covers various aspects of video games, including game reviews, industry news, and player culture, typically following a core ...

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 video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connec ...

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 arcade ...

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 title in the series, ''Age of Empires'', focused on events in Europe, Afri ...

'', ''

Banjo-Kazooie ''Banjo-Kazooie'' is a platform game series developed by Rare, a British company. The games feature a male bear named Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Kazooie, both of whom are controlled by the player. Banjo originally mad ...

'', ''

Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise created and originally developed by Westwood Studios and currently owned by Electronic Arts. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself ba ...

'', '' Diablo'', ''

Excite Excitation, excite, exciting, or excitement may refer to: * Excitation (magnetic), provided with an electrical generator or alternator * ''Exite'', a series of racing video games published by Nintendo starting with '' Excitebike'' * Excite (web por ...

'', ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'', ''

Grandia is a series of role-playing video games developed by Game Arts and published over the years by Entertainment Software Publishing, Sony Computer Entertainment, Ubisoft, Hudson Soft, Enix, Square Enix and GungHo Online Entertainment. Games in the ...

'', ''

The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...

'', ''

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has ...

'', ''

Marvel vs. Capcom is a series of Crossover (fiction), crossover fighting games developed and published by Capcom, featuring characters from their video game franchises and comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series originated as coin-operated arca ...

'', ''

Mega Man Legends ''Mega Man Legends'' is a sub-series in the ''Mega Man'' franchise. While the main series is known for its 2D side-scrolling platformer gameplay with story that is told through cutscenes, this series instead features 3D action-adventure gamepla ...

'', ''

Monkey Island ''Monkey Island'' is a series of adventure games. The first four games were produced and published by LucasArts, earlier known as Lucasfilm Games. The fifth was developed by Telltale Games with LucasArts, while the sixth was developed by Terribl ...

'', ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'', ''

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 the ''Burnout'' series). Most entries in the series are generally arcade racing games centered ...

'', ''

Persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

'', ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, 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 series of racing video games created by Namco and owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The first game, ''Ridge Racer (1993 video game), Ridge Racer'' (1993), was originally released in arcades for the Namco System 22 hardware, later ported ...

'', ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

'', ''

Spyro ''Spyro'' is a Platformer, platform game series originally created by Insomniac Games as an exclusive for Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony's PlayStation (console), PlayStation console. The series features the adventures of the main protagon ...

'', ''

Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The main games in the series follow the events ...

'', ''

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' (often shortened to ''Rainbow Six'' or ''R6'') is a tactical shooter video game series by Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft, marketed under the '' Tom Clancy's'' banner of military-themed video games. Based on t ...

'', ''

Tony Hawk's ''Tony Hawk's'' is a series of skateboarding video games published by Activision and endorsed by the Tony Hawk, American professional skateboarder of the same name. From 1999 to 2007, the series was primarily developed for Home video game conso ...

'', and ''

Wario is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise that was designed as an Archenemy, archnemesis to Mario. Wario first appeared as the main antagonist and final Boss (video games), boss in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mar ...

''. In addition, 2000 saw the introduction of several new properties, including ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games, in which opposing teams attempt to complete various objectives. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, '' Counte ...

'', ''

Hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

'', ''

'', '' Kessen'', ''

Mario Tennis ''Mario Tennis'' is a 2000 sports video game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 (N64). Following '' Mario's Tennis'', it is the second game in the ''Mario Tennis'' series. The game is known for ...

'', ''

Midnight Club ''Midnight Club'' is a series of arcade-style racing video games developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. ''Midnight Club'' is similar to the '' Midtown Madness'' series (previously developed by Angel Studios), with a f ...

'', ''

Paper Mario ''Paper Mario'' is a video game series and part of the ''Mario'' franchise, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It combines elements from the role-playing, action-adventure, and puzzle genres. Players control a ...

'', ''

TimeSplitters ''TimeSplitters'' is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by Free Radical Design. The games are often considered spiritual successors to the Nintendo 64 titles ''GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game), GoldenEye 007'' (1997) and ''Pe ...

'', and ''

Total War Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all (including civilian-associated) resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilises all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare ov ...

''.

References

{{History of video games Video games by year

Hardware releases

Top-rated games

Game of the Year awards

Critically acclaimed titles

''Famitsu'' Platinum Hall of Fame

Metacritic and GameRankings

Financial performance

Best-selling video game consoles

Best-selling home video games

Japan

United States

Europe

Australia

Highest-grossing arcade games in Japan

Major events

Notable releases

See also

References