In the early 2000s, SegaNet was shut down and the online features of the game were shut down as well until July 2017 when online features were brought back thanks to DreamPi. The game along with the rest of the 2K titles on the Dreamcast have had their online components revived and are completely playable online today.[5]
NFL 2K1 received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[6]Metacritic ranks it as the joint third highest-rated game of all-time.[c] Rob Smolka of NextGen called it "A great-playing game, both online and offline, and a significant advance over last year's version."[17] In Japan, where the game was ported for release on March 29, 2001, Famitsu gave it a score of 32 out of 40.[9]
The game won the awards for "Dreamcast Game of the Year", "Multiplayer Game of the Year", and "Sports Game of the Year" at the Electronic Gaming Monthly 2000 Gamers' Choice Awards[20][21] (the latter at the 2000 Readers' Choice Awards);[22] and was a runner-up for the overall Game of the Year award, which went to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.[23] The game also won "Best Dreamcast Game" and "Best Sports Game (Traditional)" awards at GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2000 Awards,[24][25] and was a runner-up for the "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Game of the Year" awards, both of which went to Quake III Arena and Chrono Cross, respectively.[26][27] The staff wrote that they "argued for more than an hour over whether Square's Chrono Cross or Sega's NFL 2K1 should win the award for Game of the Year."[27]
Studies have been done on how effective in-game commercialization is in sports games on people, including NFL 2K1.[28]
Notes
^In Electronic Gaming Monthly's review of the game, one critic gave it a score of 10/10, and the rest gave it each a score of 9.5/10.
^In GameFan's viewpoint of the game, one critic gave it 96, and the other 97.
^EGM staff (April 2001). "EGM's 2000 Gamers' Choice Awards (Multiplayer Game of the Year, Sports Game of the Year)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 141. Ziff Davis. p. 97.
^EGM staff (April 2001). "EGM's 2000 Gamers' Choice Awards (2000 Readers' Choice Awards: Sports Game of the Year)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 141. Ziff Davis. p. 98.
^EGM staff (April 2001). "EGM's 2000 Gamers' Choice Awards (Game of the Year)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 141. Ziff Davis. p. 99.