2001 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games. New intellectual properties include Animal Crossing, Burnout, Devil May Cry, Halo: Combat Evolved, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Max Payne, Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, Pikmin, Red Faction, Serious Sam, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and Tropico
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.
March 21 – The Game Boy Advance handheld is released by Nintendo.
May 17–19 – 7th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3); the 4th annual Game Critics Awards For The Best Of E3
June 23 - Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates its 10th anniversary.
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.
Spring – Reuters reports that the Dreamcast console has an estimated 800,000 online users playing its various online games already by midyear.
Sony cooperates with AOL to incorporate Internet features with the PlayStation 2 console; which include a browser, email, and instant messaging capabilities.
August – 2nd annual Dreamcast Championships (featuring the Crazy Taxi 2 video game)
Nikkei News reports that the video game Phantasy Star Online (for Dreamcast) has had 300,000 worldwide users login already by midyear.
September 14 – Nintendo releases the GameCube.
November 15 – The Microsoft Xbox is introduced.
November 23 – Game Park releases the GP32 wireless-multiplayer multimedia handheld console in South Korea.
December 31 – Jez San is awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours, becoming the first person awarded specifically for services to video games.
December – Panasonic releases the Game Cube-based Q multimedia console.
Defunct companies: Indrema, Dynamix, Sanctuary Woods, SNK.
After Dynamix (1984–2001) is closed as part of Sierra's restructuring under Vivendi Universal, several veterans of the studio found GarageGames.
Sega announces that it will no longer develop home consoles, to focus on game development. The Dreamcast is discontinued in May, but games continue to be released.
Zylom founded in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Activision acquires Treyarch Invention LLC.
PCCW (Pacific Century CyberWorks Japan Co., Ltd.) acquires VR1 Entertainment.
Long-time arcade developer Midway Games announces that it will no longer manufacture arcade games.
August – Loki Software declares Chapter 11 Bankruptcy over internal financial troubles, before going defunct next January. In response Michael Simms of the Tux Games retailer and former Loki game tester founds Linux Game Publishing alongside ex-Loki employee Mike Philips on October 15 to keep games coming to Linux.
Sega of America Inc. v. Kmart Corporation; Sega sues Kmart over an unpaid debt of over US$2 million
Uri Geller v. Nintendo; Geller sues Nintendo over his resemblance to a Pokémon character. The suit is dismissed.
The dominant video game consoles in 2001 were:
Sony's PlayStation 2
Additionally, Nintendo released the Nintendo GameCube on September 14 in Japan (U.S. on November 18 and in Europe on May 3, 2002). Microsoft released the Xbox video game console in the U.S. on November 15 (in Europe on March 14, 2002).
Handheld game systems
The dominant handheld systems in 2001 were:
Nintendo's Game Boy Color
Additionally, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in Japan on March 21 (in the U.S. on June 11 and Europe on June 22).
According to the NPD Group, Grand Theft Auto III was the top selling console video game in 2001 in the United States with just under two million sold; the top 10 selling console video games in 2001 in the United States ranked by units sold were:
According to the NPD Group, the top 10 selling personal computer games in 2001 in the United States ranked by units sold were:
