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 &mdash; 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 &mdash; 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 &mdash; GamePark releases the GP32 (GamePark 32) wireless-multiplayer multimedia handheld console in South Korea
 * December &mdash; 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 &amp; 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: