The awards were arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), and were held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California on May 11, 2000 during E3 2000.
It was hosted by Martin Short, and featured presenters included Martin Lewis, Ahmet Zappa, Stevie Case, Brian Fargo, Alison Sweeney, Harry Shearer, Elisa Donovan, Leah Lail, Carmine Giovinazzo, Delroy Lindo, and Peter Molyneux.
Several craft awards were split up into separate categories: "Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics" would be separated into the categories of "Art Direction" and "Animation", "Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music" would be separated into the categories of "Sound Design" and "Original Music Composition", and "Software Engineering" would be replaced with "Visual Engineering" and "Gameplay Engineering".
The content awards for "Adventure" and "Role-Playing", both for console and PC, were combined into "Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year".
Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy, was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.