The year 2002 in video games saw the release of many sequels and prequels in video games, such as ''

Madden NFL 2003 ''Madden NFL 2003'' is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. The 14th installment of the ''Madden NFL'' series, the game features former St. ...

'', ''

NBA Live 2003 ''NBA Live 2003'' is the 2002 installment of the ''NBA Live'' video games series. The cover features Jason Kidd as a member of the New Jersey Nets. The game was developed by EA Canada and released on October 8, 2002, for the PlayStation, PlayStat ...

'', ''

NBA 2K3 ''NBA 2K3'' is a 2002 sports video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by Sega for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was the first of three consecutive ''NBA 2K'' games to be produced with licensing from ESPN (however, the ESPN l ...

'', ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4'' is a 2002 skateboarding game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under their Activision O2 label. The game was ported by different developers to various systems. It is the fourth installment in the ' ...

'', ''

WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth ''WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth'' (known as ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 4'' in Japan) is a 2002 professional wrestling video game released for the PlayStation 2 by THQ and developed by Yuke's. It is the fourth game in the '' WWE SmackDown!'' vid ...

'', ''

Final Fantasy XI also known as ''Final Fantasy XI Online'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), originally developed and published by Square (video game company), Square and then published by Square Enix as the eleventh main installme ...

'', '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', ''

Jet Set Radio Future is a 2002 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Xbox. The sequel to the Dreamcast game ''Jet Set Radio'' (2000), it features refined gameplay mechanics, updated graphics, larger open world environments, new characters, ...

'', ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main '' Metroid'' game and the first to use 3D computer graphics and a first-person perspec ...

'', '' Onimusha 2'', ''Pokémon Ruby'' and ''Sapphire'', '' Pro Evolution Soccer 2'', ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...

'', ''

Super Mario Sunshine is a 2002 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second 3D computer graphics, 3D game in the Super Mario, ''Super Mario'' series, following ''Super Mario 64'' (1996). The game was directed by Yoshiaki Ko ...

,'' '' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'', and '' The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'', along with new titles and franchises such as ''

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troop ...

'', ''

Dungeon Siege ''Dungeon Siege'' is an action role-playing game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft in April 2002 for Microsoft Windows and the following year by Destineer for Mac OS X. Set in the pseudo-medieval kingdom of Ehb, the high ...

'', ''

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square) and owned by The Walt Disney Company. A collaboration between the two companies, it was conceptualized by Square employees, Japanese gam ...

'', ''

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

'', ''

Ratchet & Clank ''Ratchet & Clank'' is a series of Action-adventure game, action-adventure Platform game, platform and third-person shooter video games created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. High Impact Games ...

'', ''

Sly Cooper ''Sly Cooper'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games created by Sucker Punch Productions and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series follows the adventures of Sly Cooper, an anthropomorphic raccoon and master thief ...

'', ''

SOCOM The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the United States Army Special Operations Command, Army, United Stat ...

'', and ''

Splinter Cell ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a ...

''. The year's best-selling video game was ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' for 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 ...

, while the year's most critically acclaimed titles were ''

'' and '' The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'' for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

Trends

The

market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers. It involves understanding who they are and what they need. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining com ...

company NPD estimated that video game hardware, software, and accessories sold about US$10.3 billion in 2002. This was a 10% increase over the 2001 figure.

Video game consoles

The dominant

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...

s in 2002 were: *

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

Handheld game systems

The dominant handheld systems in 2002 were

and

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

Critically acclaimed titles

''Famitsu''

The following video game releases in 2002 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" and received

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 36 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 reviews.

Best-selling video games

Japan

United States

Europe

Australia

Events

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

hosts the 5th Annual

Interactive Achievement Awards The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an annual awards show in the video game industry, and commonly referred to as the video game equivalent of the Academy Awards. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Inter ...

; inducts Will Wright of

Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a Division (business), division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright (game designer), Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. Maxis is ...

to the

AIAS Hall of Fame The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an annual awards show in the video game industry, and commonly referred to as the video game equivalent of the Academy Awards. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Intera ...

. *

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

(British Academy of Film and Television Arts) holds 5th annual

BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards The British Academy of Film and Television Arts ( BAFTA) annually hosted the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia entertainment between 1998 and 2002. In 2003, BAFTA announced the award would be split into two separate ceremonies � ...

for multimedia technologies; 10 of 21 awards go to video games; awards

Ian Livingstone Sir Ian Livingstone (born 29 December 1949) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of the '' Fighting Fantasy'' series of role-playing gamebooks, and the author of many books within that ...

the BAFTA Interactive Special Award. *

Big Fish Games Big Fish Games, Inc. is a casual game company based in Seattle with a regional office in Oakland, California, owned by Aristocrat Leisure. It is a developer and distributor of casual games for computers and mobile devices. In 2016, the company ...

is founded with

Paul Thelen Big Fish Games, Inc. is a casual game company based in Seattle with a regional office in Oakland, California, owned by Aristocrat Leisure. It is a developer and distributor of casual games for computers and mobile devices. In 2016, the company ...

as the only employee. *

Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Limited (formerly Domark Limited) was a British video game publisher based in Wimbledon, London. Among its franchises were '' Championship Manager'', '' Deus Ex'', ''Hitman'', '' Thief'' and ''Tomb Raider''. Domark was founded ...

selects

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

model

Jill De Jong Jill de Jong, also known as Jildou de Jong (born 17 February 1982) is a Dutch fitness trainer, health coach, podcast host and former model and actress. Born in Hoogeveen, Drenthe, Netherlands, on 21 March 2002 she was selected by Eidos Interact ...

as the new digitized

Lara Croft Lara Croft is a character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British adventurer and archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins arou ...

character. * Gama Network hosts the 4th annual

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

(IGF). *

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year, Game Developers Choice Awards and ...

hosts the 2nd annual

Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding video game developer, game developers and video game, games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by ...

. *

SEGA is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

establishes the Sega Mobile division to develop, produce, and distribute video games for

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

s and PDAs; establishes the Sega.com Business Solutions division to service video game developers and publishers. *

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

embroiled in

controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

for its ''

Grand Theft Auto III ''Grand Theft Auto III'' is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It was the first 3D game in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series. Set in Liberty City, loosely based on New York City, the story follo ...

'' and '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' video games. * Early 2002 –

Titus Software Titus Interactive SA,Contact
. Titus Interactiv ...

buys out

Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well a ...

's European operations, owning the rights to publish their games in Europe and also owning 100% of

Virgin Interactive Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

. They also buy a majority stake in Interplay. * March 22 – ''

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 ...

'' overtakes ''

Myst ''Myst'' is a 1993 adventure video game developed by Cyan and published by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the ...

'' as all-time best-selling computer game, having sold 6.3 million units

* March 25 – ''

GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...

'', an American video gaming website is launched. * April 24 –

G4 Media G4 Media may refer to: * G4 Media (TV company), a Los Angeles–based American TV company * ''G4 Media'' (website), a Romanian news website {{Disambiguation ...

, LLC (subsidiary of

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

Corporation) launches the G4 cable television video game network channel. * May 14 – Virgin Interactive España is split up from its parent Titus Software and renames to

Virgin Play Virgin PLAY S.A. (formerly Virgin Interactive España S.A.) was a Spanish video game distributor, and later a video game publisher. History In 1995, Virgin Interactive Entertainment and employees Mariele Isidoro and Paco Encinas formed up a Spani ...

, becoming the first "100% Spanish" game distributor and publisher. * May 22–24 – 8th annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo); the 5th annual

Game Critics Awards The Game Critics Awards were a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards were given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. The 21st Annual Game Critics Awards was showca ...

for the Best of E3. * July – IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 3rd annual Executive Summit. * July 29 –

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

passed Law 3037/2002 which outlawed electronic games being played in public in attempt to fight illegal gambling in the country. The controversial law was repealed in 2011. * September 24 –

purchases Rare for $375 million. * October 28-November 3 – The

2002 World Cyber Games The World Cyber Games 2002 was held in Daejeon, South Korea from the October 28th to the November 3rd. Total prize money was $300,000. Official games *First-person shooter (FPS) ** '' Half-Life: Counter-Strike'' ** '' Quake III: Arena'' ** ''Unr ...

are held.

Notable releases

References

{{History of video games Video games by year

Trends

Video game consoles

Handheld game systems

Critically acclaimed titles

''Famitsu''

Metacritic and GameRankings

Best-selling video games

Japan

United States

Europe

Australia

Events

Notable releases

See also

References