Summer Games Done Quick 2017 Breaks Last Year’s Record, Raises $1.7 Million For Charity

Image credit: Games Done Quick

Seven days later, this year’s Summer Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon has come to an end, but not before raising $2.236 million for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

Last year’s event raised around $US1.3 million for the organisation, making SGDQ 17 a record breaking year (AGDQ 17 was earlier this year and broke its own previous record for charity donations by $US1 million). A bidding process helps encourage people to donate by augmenting speedruns or letting the audience choose what characters will be named. $US2,740 was raised at the beginning of this year’s marathon simply to get speedrunner Halfcoordinated to hold an Emil plushie in one hand while he completed NieR: Automota with the other.

With a current cash total $1,760,400 we absolutely destroyed our total from SGDQ of last year! Amazing job everyone! #SGDQ2017 pic.twitter.com/dyMPZhnbmF

— Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) July 9, 2017

Featuring an array of wide-ranging games, SGDQ 2017 showed just how much the event has continued to grow. Similar to its sister-marathon hosted in the winter, Awesome Games Done Quick, the phenomenon has become a grass-roots organised cultural touchstone for many in the gaming community. Hundreds of people get together in a hotel conference room and play their favourite games really fast, while hundreds of thousands more watch them do it online.

Book-ended by a new and old fan-favourite, NieR: Automata and Earthbound, the event included everything from expert runs through Super Monkey Ball and Super Mario 64 to multi-hour affairs as speedrunners tackled lengthy JRPGs while explaining their intricate inner workings.

Would GLaDOS be mad if she found out her two favorite test subjects were actually one person? @AzoraeSpeedruns isn’t scared! #SGDQ2017 pic.twitter.com/9EbDVy9wmE

— Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) July 9, 2017

Right before the last run of the event, a special run by Azorae featured the speedrunner completing Portal 2 in co-op mode all by himself. With two mouses, two monitors, and no hesitation, it was something amazing to behold (especially for anyone who’s struggled just to beat the game alongside another competent individual).

You can find a few of our favourite runs from this year’s SGDQ here, here, and here. You can also flip through the organisation’s YouTube channel where all of them have been archived.