For the fifth straight year in a row, Awesome Games Done Quick has raised more than $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation as the event returned to hosting an in-person speedrunning showcase.
From Jan. 14 to 21, speedrunners from around the world hit the streets of Pittsburgh for the first time and helped raise $2,515,720 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. This made it the first time in Games Done Quick history that one of the organization’s marathon series raised more than $2.5 for five years in a row, starting with AGDQ 2020 hitting $3,164,002. AGDQ 2022 still holds the series and overall GDQ donation record at $3,442,033.
For GDQ as a whole, this is the 20th consecutive event to raise more than $1 million for charity and the 14th to raise over $2 million. AGDQ 2022 still holds the series and overall donation record at $3,442,033.
This was also AGDQ’s first time bringing people together physically since January 2020, as it was strictly an online-only operation for the last three years. GDQ was going to bring the event back in-person in 2022, but management decided to hold off due to “increased aggression towards LGBTQ+ individuals” in Florida, where the series previously was running AGDQ.
If you missed out on the action this year, highlights included the usual information overload in some of the more detailed runs, a Metroid Dread race that was separated by just two seconds, and Peanut Butter the incredible speedrunning dog. The event also featured a Baldur’s Gate 3 run, which is where the donation total hit $2 million.
GDQ will return with Summer Games Done Quick from June 30 to July 6, with the event going live from its usual home of Minnesota.