In the 2000s, gaming experienced one of its most prosperous periods of growth. The “Bit Wars” between Sega and Nintendo, which ruled the ’90s, were over. In their place came the three-way battle between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, which is still going on today. As for games, we had everything from story-driven epics to sports simulations to sandboxes with an open world. Here are some of the games we think were the best of the 2000s.
The Sims

The Sims is a series of life simulation video games made by Maxis and sold by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold almost 200 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular video game series ever.
RuneScape

RuneScape is a fantasy-themed, massively multiplayer online role-playing game that came out in January 2001. It was made by Jagex and published by Electronic Arts. RuneScape was originally a browser game made with the programming language Java. In 2016, a standalone C++ client took over most of the work.
Fallout 3

Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks collaborated on the 2008 action role-playing game Fallout 3. The third major installment in the Fallout series is the first game Bethesda developed after acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment.
Max Payne

Neo-noir video game series Remedy Entertainment and Rockstar Studios are the creators of Max Payne, a third-person shooter. The series is named after the main character, Max Payne, who is a New York City police detective whose family was killed by drug addicts and who now fights back.
Crazy Taxi

The Crazy Taxi video game series is a set of racing games made by Hitmaker and released by Sega. The first game came out in arcades in 1999 and was very popular. In 2000, Sega put the game’s arcade version on their Dreamcast console.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is a video game about skateboarding and the third in the Tony Hawk series. Activision released it in 2001 for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Colour, and GameCube under the Activision O2 label.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Rayman 2: The Great Escape is a platform game that came out in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows, Sega Dreamcast, and Sony PlayStation. Ubi Pictures and Ubi Soft published it. Ubisoft Annecy made a better version of Rayman for the PlayStation 2 called Rayman Revolution.
Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X is the tenth main game in the Final Fantasy series. It is a role-playing video game that Square produces and sells.
Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike is a series of tactical first-person shooter games in which teams of terrorists fight to commit terrorist acts while teams of counter-terrorists try to stop them. The first game in the series, Counter-Strike, came out for Windows in 1999.
Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed is a series of open-world action-adventure, and stealth games made by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The games use the game engine Anvil and more advanced versions of it.
Dead Rising

Keiji Inafune made the Dead Rising games, which are action-adventure games. Capcom first made it, but then Capcom Vancouver took over the franchise. As of March 31, 2022, 15 million copies of the game series had been sold worldwide, making it Capcom’s sixth most successful intellectual property.
Resident Evil Zero

Capcom made and released Resident Evil Zero for the GameCube in 2002. It is a survival horror game that comes before Resident Evil and is about what the ST.A.R.S. Bravo Team, a special police unit, went through in the Arklay Mountains.
Civilization Revolution

In 2008, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games released Sid Meier’s Civilisation Revolution, a 4X turn-based strategy game that is a different game in the Civilisation series. The video game was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Windows, and iOS.
Fable II

Fable II is an action role-playing open-world video game that was released in 2008 for Xbox 360. Microsoft Game Studios and Lionhead Studios jointly produced it. It is the second game in the Fable series, following Fable, which was released in 2004.
Virtua Tennis: Sega Professional Tennis

Virtua Tennis 3 is the second arcade game in Sega’s Virtua Tennis series of tennis games. The PC-based Sega Lindbergh arcade system board makes the version of Virtua Tennis 3 work.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

The tactical shooter game Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter came out in 2006 for the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. As in previous Ghost Recon games, players take charge of their team as they fight off enemies and complete different mission goals.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an action-adventure game for the GameCube that emerged in 2002. Nintendo produced and sold it. It was released in Japan in December 2002, North America in March 2003, and Europe in May 2003. It was part of the Legend of Zelda series.
Populus

Bullfrog Productions and Electronic Arts released a line of video games titled “Populous.” Populous was the first game in the series, released in 1989. At the time, it was seen as groundbreaking, and the term “god game” came from it.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is an action-adventure video game released in 2007. Sony Computer Entertainment and Naughty Dog manufactured it. It is the first game in the Uncharted series and was released for PlayStation 3 in November 2007.
Mario Kart Wii

Nintendo created and sold Mario Kart Wii, a kart racing game for the Wii. It came out in April 2008 and is the sixth game in the Mario Kart series.
Skate 2

Skate 2 is a skateboarding video game created by Electronic Arts and EA Black Box. It was released worldwide in January 2009 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is a spin-off of Skate It, the sequel to Skate, which came out in 2007, and the third game in the Skate series.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in 2002. It was made by Rockstar North and sold by Rockstar Games. It is the fourth main game in the Grand Theft Auto series, after Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, and the sixth game overall.
FIFA 09

FIFA 09 is a football simulation video game made by EA Canada and released by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released in October 2008 for Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, and Zeebo.
Baldur’s Gate

In the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign, Baldur’s Gate is a series of role-playing video games. Both the Bhaalspawn Saga and the Dark Alliance are based on the game. Both occur mostly in the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga also goes to Amn and Tethyr.