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 3 ...

. 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 C ...

'', '' Baldur's Gate II'', ''

Diablo II ''Diablo II'' is an Action role-playing game, action role-playing hack and slash, hack-and-slash video game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2000 for Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and macOS. The game, ...

'', ''

Dragon Quest VII ''Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past'' is a 2000 Japanese role-playing video game developed by Heartbeat and ArtePiazza, and published by Enix for the PlayStation. It was released in North America in 2001 under the title ''Dragon ...

'', ''

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 Dreamca ...

'', '' 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 subs ...

'', 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, cop ...

such as ''

Deus Ex ''Deus Ex'' is a series of 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 technologies in a ...

'', ''

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 GGs, as they use inline skates to traverse Tok ...

'', ''

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

'', ''

Skies of Arcadia ''Skies of Arcadia'' is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Overworks and published by Sega. Players control Vyse, a young air pirate, and his friends as they attempt to stop the fictional Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapons with t ...

'', ''

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

'' and ''

Vagrant Story is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. The game was released in 2000, and has been re-released through the P ...

''. 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 (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' 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 v ...

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 by various award events and media publications to a video game 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 ''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 fo ...

'' magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.

Metacritic and GameRankings

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

(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 is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publicat ...

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 arcade v ...

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 ser ...

'', ''

Banjo-Kazooie ''Banjo-Kazooie'' is a series of video games developed by Rare (company), Rare. The games feature a male bear named Banjo & Kazooie, Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Banjo & Kazooie, Kazooie, who are both controlled by the p ...

'', ''

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 ''Dune I ...

'', '' Diablo'', ''

Excite Excitation, excite, exciting, or excitement may refer to: * Excitation (magnetic), provided with an electrical generator or alternator * Excite Ballpark, located in San Jose, California * Excite (web portal), web portal owned by IAC * Electron ex ...

'', ''

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

'', ''

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 ''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-rele ...

'', ''

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 m ...

'', ''

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

'', ''

Mega Man Legends ''Mega Man Legends'' is a series in the ''Mega Man'' franchise. While the classic series is known for its 2D side-scrolling platformer gameplay with very little story, this series instead features 3D action-adventure gameplay and a robust story ...

'', ''

Monkey Island ''Monkey Island'' is a series of adventure games. The first four games in the series were produced and published by LucasArts, earlier known as Lucasfilm Games. The fifth installment of the franchise was developed by Telltale Games in collaborat ...

'', ''

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 v ...

'', ''

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 com ...

'', ''

Persona A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally ref ...

'', ''

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 game, 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 video game), Ridge Racer'' (1993), was originally rel ...

'', ''

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 mo ...

'', ''

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. Originall ...

'', ''

Tekken is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The ...

'', ''

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' (often shortened to ''Rainbow Six'') is a tactical first-person shooter video game franchise by Ubisoft, based on the novel ''Rainbow Six'' by American author Tom Clancy. Critically and commercially successful, the ...

'', '' Tony Hawk's'', and ''

Wario is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' series, designed as an Arch rival, arch-rival to Mario. He first appeared in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'' as the main antagonist and final Bos ...

''. 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 teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

'', ''

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 be ...

'', ''

Kessen is a real-time tactics video game produced by Koei and published by Electronic Arts. It was a launch game for the PlayStation 2 in Japan and North America. It was initially the only real-time wargame game available for the PlayStation 2. It is a ...

'', ''

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 List of Mario sports games#Mario Tennis series, ''Mari ...

'', ''

Midnight Club ''Midnight Club'' is a series of Racing video game#Arcade-style racers, arcade-style racing video games developed by Rockstar San Diego (formerly known as Angel Studios) and published by Rockstar Games. ''Midnight Club'' is similar to the ''Mid ...

'', ''

Paper Mario ''Paper Mario'' is a video game series and part of the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise, developed by Intelligent Systems and produced by Nintendo. It combines elements from the role-playing video game, role-playing, action-adventure, a ...

'', ''

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-combata ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2000 in 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