With the Awesome Games Done Quick event coming to a close yesterday, the final donation tally has been released. According to the Games Done Quick website, the organization raised over 2.3 million dollars ($2,398,505.00 to be exact) for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The event beat last year’s donation record by just little more than $100,000, and this year now stands as the most money raised by the semiannual event. The Games Done Quick organization also runs another event each year in the summer, called Summer Games Done Quick, which donates to Doctors Without Borders since 2013.
The event, which has been around since 2010, features volunteer speedrunners competing to see who can beat a game with the fastest time. Some events having special rules or conditions, such as a 100% completion percentage, playing on the hardest mode, and co-op game modes. The event was streamed live on Twitch while participants played everything from Mario Kart to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. You can check out the schedule for full list of games played.
Even though players are competing with each other for bragging rights, the true goal of the event is to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The organization’s goal is to “Stop Cancer Before It Starts!” through research, education, outreach, and advocacy. Games Done Quick has been donating to the charity yearly since 2011, and collectively have raised over 11 million dollars for the PCF. In total, 46,383 donations were made during the week-long event, and an astonishing $217,226.12 was the max donation. Even though most would not be able to donate anywhere near that much, the average donation was just over $50, so all in all, those tuned into the event were very generous to the cause.
Games Done Quick will host its summer event from June 23 to 30, 2019 in Bloomington, Minnesota. For those of you who missed the week-long event, are anxiously waiting for June, or just want to relive the speedrunning glory, you can check out the finale video below.