Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was the first PlayStation 2 game to support online play.
Released in 2001, Pro Skater 3 expanded the series beyond split-screen competition by allowing PlayStation 2 players to connect directly to other players online. This was a notable technical feature for the console, whose network infrastructure was still developing. Players could use the game's online capabilities even before Sony's official Network Adapter had become widely available, with compatible Ethernet hardware.
The distinction is online play, not voice chat. The game did not make voice communication the defining breakthrough, and PlayStation 2 trophies and motion controls were not part of its original feature set. Its online functionality was focused on multiplayer skating, while the core game retained the trick-combo, objective-based structure established by earlier entries.
Pro Skater 3 also introduced the revert, which let players connect vert-landed tricks into manuals and much longer combos. That combination of online competition and deeper combo mechanics helped make the third game a major step forward for the series.