Summer Games Done Quick Raises Over $2 Million For Doctors Without Borders
The latest Games Done Quick (GDQ) charity speedrunning event was held over July 6 – 13 at the Hilton Minneapolis in Minnesota; 2,600 people turned up, with many more joining in online via GDQ’s dedicated Twitch and Youtube channels. This time around, the event was in aid of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and raised $2,436,614.
GDQ focuses on a variety of retro and modern games across its regular events, with gamers invited to take part in multiple speedrunning challenges. For this latest Summer Games Done Quick, players got to show their reflexes on Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, Avowed, Resident Evil 7, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, and loads more.
“SGDQ was as lively and thrilling as ever, with some of the most popular speedruns including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Balatro, Super Mario Maker 2, Blue Prince, Mario Kart World, Beat Saber, and more,” the organization said in a press release. “Another highlight included the AEW Fight Forever segment, where the audience raised signs and roared with growing excitement as if watching a real wrestling match.”
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Speed is The Name of The Game
Games Done Quick is one of the world’s longest running charity game event organizations, and since 2010 has regularly partnered up with the likes of AbleGamers, Organization for Autism Research, and Prevent Cancer Foundation. As of this writing, GDQ has managed to raise over $57 million for charity, in total.
GDQ was originally founded by Mike Uyama, who started it all in his mother’s basement. Over the years, GDQ went from putting on amateur events to a professional level that involved many well-known streamers and speedrunners; one notable event was the Awesome Games Done Quick in March 2014, which was the first time it managed to raise over $1 million (for Prevent Cancer Foundation), and featured a speedrun on Chrono Trigger by ObdaJr.
Uyama stepped down from his role as Owner and Managing Director due to his own health concerns in 2023, and was superseded by longtime Director of Operations, Matt Merkle. During both Uyama and Merkle’s tenures, multiple speedrunning records have been broken, including at this year’s Summer Games Done Quick where Mitchriz completed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in just 1 hour 26 minutes and 44 seconds.
Next Steps For GDQ
Games Done Quick runs multiple events all-year-round, with the next one already lined up for September 7 – 14: Flame Fatales, which will be held online and broadcast live on Games Done Quick’s Twitch, is an all-women and femmes speedrunning showcase. This will be followed by Games Done Queer, a new online speedrunning event from October 31 to November 2. Next year, Awesome Games Done Quick returns January 4 – 10 in Pittsburgh, PA.
GDQ tends to change the charities each event is in aid of, with Flame Fatales linked to the Malala Fund. This is a non-profit started by Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai in 2013, with the aim being to promote and ensure girls can get access to education.
As for the recent Summer Games Done Quick, all proceeds went to MSF. Initially set-up in 1971, the charity now includes health professional members from all over the world, with the aim being to provide assistance to populations in distress, such as victims of armed conflict and of natural or man-made disasters. As its name suggests, MSF helps whoever it can, regardless of politics, religion or race.
