2001 in video gaming

## Events

* Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts John Carmack of id Software to the AIAS Hall of Fame
* British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) hosts the 4th annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia technologies; 15 of 21 awards go to video games
* May 17–19 — 7th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3); the 4th annual Game Critics Awards For The Best Of E3
* July - IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 2nd annual Executive Summit
* Gama Network hosts the 3rd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF)
* Game Developers Conference hosts the 1st annual Game Developers Choice Awards
* Reuters reports that the Dreamcast console has an estimated 800,000 online users playing its various online games already by midyear
	+ reports that Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sega are cooperating to allow online users for the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast consoles to play each other via the 1st ever cross-console network
* Sony cooperates with AOL to incorporate Internet features with the PlayStation 2 console; which include a browser, email, and instant messaging capabilities
* 2nd annual Dreamcast Championships (featuring the *Crazy Taxi 2* video game)
	+ 1st place: Lindsay Gall ($15,000 & Jamaica resort trip)
	+ 2nd place: Michael Pirring ($10,000)
	+ 3rd place: Roger Mogle ($5,000)
* Nikkei News reports that the video game *Phantasy Star Online* (for Dreamcast) has had 300,000 worldwide users login already by midyear
* December 31 — Jez San is awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours, becoming the first person awarded specifically for services to video games.

### Business

* Sega announces that it will no longer develop home consoles, in order to focus on game development. The Dreamcast is waiting to finish the production in May. But a lot of games were released for it in the same year.
* Zylom founded in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
* Indrema in April closes and its L600 Entertainment System multimedia home console is never released.
* Activision acquires Treyarch Invention LLC
* PCCW (Pacific Century CyberWorks Japan Co., Ltd.) acquires VR1 Entertainment
* Midway Games announces that it will no longer manufacture arcade games
* November 23 — GamePark releases the GP32 (GamePark 32) wireless-multiplayer multimedia handheld console in South Korea
* December — Panasonic's Q multimedia console

### Lawsuits

* Sega of America Inc. v. Kmart Corporation; Sega sues Kmart over an unpaid debt of over USD$2 million dollars
* Uri Geller v. Nintendo; Geller sues Nintendo over his resemblance to a Pokémon character. The suit is dismissed.

### Notable releases

North American release dates:

* January 21 - *Phantasy Star Online* (Dreamcast)
* February 5 - *Paper Mario* (N64)
* February 7 - *Clive Barker's Undying* (PC)
* March 5 - *Conker's Bad Fur Day* (N64)
* March 13 - *Onimusha: Warlords* (PS2)
* March 21 - *Serious Sam: The First Encounter* (PC)
* March 25 - *Black & White* (PC)
* May 22 - *Red Faction* (PS2)
* June 5 - *Sonic Adventure 2* (Dreamcast)
* June 8 - *Castlevania: Circle of the Moon* (GBA)
* June 11 - *Super Mario Advance* (GBA)
* June 12 - *Half-Life: Blue Shift* (PC)
* June 18 - *Twisted Metal: Black* (PS2)
* June 21 - *Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal* (PC)
* June 22 - *Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis* (PC)
* June 29 - *Final Fantasy Chronicles* (PS1)
* July 10 - *Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec* (PS2)
* July 19 - *Final Fantasy X* (PS2)
* July 23 - *Max Payne* (PC)
* August 21 - *Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura* (PC)
* August 27 - *Mario Kart Super Circuit* (GBA)
* August 29 - *Alchemy* (PC)
* September 9 - *Advance Wars* (GBA)
* September 24 - *Silent Hill 2* (PS2)
* September 30 - *Ico* (PS2)
* October 17 - *Devil May Cry* (PS2)
* October 22 - *Grand Theft Auto III* (PS2)
* October 28 - *Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3* (PS2)(GC)
* October 30 - *Civilization III* (PC)
* November 1 - *Dragon Warrior VII* (PS1)
* November 5 - *SSX Tricky* (PS2, GC, Xbox)
* November 9 - *Project Gotham Racing* (Xbox)
* November 11 - *Golden Sun* (GBA)
* November 12 - *Empire Earth* (PC)
* November 14 - *Dead or Alive 3* (Xbox)
* November 14 - *Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty* (PS2)
* November 15 - *Halo: Combat Evolved* (Xbox)
* November 17 - *Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader* (GC)
* November 18 - *Super Monkey Ball* (GC)
* November 18 - *IL-2 Sturmovik* (PC)
* November 20 - *FreQuency* (PS2)
* November 20 - *Return to Castle Wolfenstein* (PC)
* December 3 - *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance* (PS2)
* December 3 - *Pikmin* (GC)
* December 3 - *Super Smash Bros. Melee* (GC)
* December 4 - *Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy* (PS2)
* December 18 - *Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure* (GC)
* December 20 - *Final Fantasy X* (PS2)

### Video game sales

The top 10 selling console video games in 2001 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to NPD, were:

### Computer game sales

The top 10 selling computer games in 2001 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to NPD, were: