2000 in video gaming

## Events

* May 11–13 — 6th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3); the 3rd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³
* June 26 — International Game Developers Association renamed from Computer Game Developers Association
* July - IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 1st annual Executive Summit
* Reuters reports that the PlayStation 2 console will export controls by Trade Ministry of Japan since the PS2 is sophisticated enough for military application
* NPD Group, Inc. reports that Electronic Arts ranks 1st in third-party video game publishing in the USA, ahead of Infogrames Entertainment SA
* Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards inducts Hironobu Sakaguchi of Square Enix to the AIAS Hall of Fame
* British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) hosts the 3rd annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia technologies; 7 of 20 awards go to video games; awards David Bowie in part for his contributions to the video game *Omikron: The Nomad Soul* (for PC)
* Gama Network hosts the 2nd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF)
* Nintendo sells its 100,000,000th Game Boy handheld console
* Sega.com launches SegaNet, their online console gaming network
	+ 1st annual Dreamcast Championships (featuring the *Sonic Adventure* video game)

### Hardware

* Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld in Japan
* Sega's Naomi 2 arcade console
* Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2) home console
* Toymax's Activision TV Games controller/console

### Business

* Electronic Arts Inc. acquires DreamWorks Interactive, LLC (games division of DreamWorks SKG)
* Infogrames, Inc. acquires Hasbro Interactive, Inc. (including the Game.com division and the rights to the Atari label); Infogrames also acquires Paradigm Entertainment, Inc.
* Microsoft Corporation acquires Bungie Software Products Corp.
* Nvidia Corporation acquires 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
* Sony Corporation acquires Verant Interactive, Inc.
* Looking Glass Studios goes out of business.
* THQ Inc. acquires Volition
* Ubi Soft Entertainment, Inc. acquires Red Storm Entertainment, Inc.
* SNK goes out of business
* PopCap Games founded
* 21-6 Productions founded
* Sega Rosso renamed (formerly Sega's AM5 team)
* Smilebit founded (formerly Sega's AM6 R&D division)
* Yeti Interactive founded
* Mattel, Inc. sells Learning Co. to Gores Technology Group
* All of Sega's internal consumer research & development divisions become individual developer companies
* Midway / Williams announces to cease the Atari Games label===Lawsuits===
* Nintendo of America, Sega America, Electronic Arts, Inc v. Yahoo!, Inc.; The lawsuit is over piracy negligence and profiting from counterfeit video game products sold on Yahoo! Auctions. The lawsuit is fully dropped in 2001 in order to cooperate against piracy.
* Nintendo commits over USD$80 million to issuing gloves to over 1,000,000 children after numerous reports of serious hand injuries from the controllers while playing certain stages of *Mario Party* (for N64).

### Notable releases

North American release dates:

* January 31 - *The Sims* (PC)
* February 3 - *Resident Evil Code: Veronica* (Japan) (DC)
* February 10 - *Vagrant Story* (Japan) (PS1)
* February 29 - *Resident Evil Code: Veronica* (DC)
* March 21 - *Thief II: The Metal Age*
* March 24 - *Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed*
* March 27 - *Soldier of Fortune (PC)*
* April 24 - *EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark* (PC)
* May 22 - *Perfect Dark* (N64)
* June 1 - *Evolva* (PC)
* June 11 - *Legend of Dragoon* (PS1)
* June 13 - *Shogun: Total War* (PC)
* June 25 - *Deus Ex* (PC)
* June 29 - *Diablo II* (PC)
* June 29 - *Icewind Dale* (PC)
* June 30 - *Homeworld: Cataclysm (PC)*
* July 7 - *Final Fantasy IX* (Japan) (PS1)
* August 2 - *Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.²* (PC)
* August 16 - *Chrono Cross* (PS1)
* August 24 - *Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion* (PC)
* August 26 - *Dragon Quest VII* (Japan) (PS1)
* August 27 - *The Sims: Livin' Large* (PC)
* September 14 - *Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force* (PC)
* September 19 - *Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2* (PS1)
* September 24 - *Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn* (PC)
* September 30 - *RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes* (PC)
* October 6 - *American McGee's Alice* (PC)
* October 15 - *Pokémon Gold and Silver* (Game Boy Color)
* October 21 - *Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2* (PC)
* October 25 - *Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore* (PS2)
* October 25 - *Midnight Club: Street Racing* (PS2)
* October 26 - *The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask* (N64)
* October 26 - *Tekken Tag Tournament* (PS2)
* November 8 - *Counter-Strike* (PC retail version)
* November 8 - *Escape from Monkey Island* (PC)
* November 9 - *The Operative: No One Lives Forever* (PC)
* November 13 - *Kessen* (PS2)
* November 13 - *Skies of Arcadia* (DC)
* November 14 - *Final Fantasy IX* (North America) (PS1)
* November 16 - *Sacrifice* (PC)
* November 16 - *The Longest Journey* (North America) (PC)
* November 20 - *Banjo Tooie* (N64)
* November 23 - *MechWarrior 4: Vengeance* (PC)
* December 4 - *EverQuest: The Scars of Velious* (PC)
* December 6 - *Grandia II* (DC)
* December 7 - *Giants: Citizen Kabuto* (PC)
* December 15 - *Project I.G.I.: I'm Going In* (PC)