Before Games Done Quick earned millions for charity on behalf of the speedrunning community, the organization had humble beginnings hosting its debut 2010 event in founder Mike Uyama’s mother’s basement due to connectivity problems at the original venue. While this first event featuring classic 16-bit and 8-bit speedruns earned a respectable $10,000 for CARE, the organization would grow exponentially into one of the most-watched speedrunning events of the year. Hosted in front of a live audience and on Twitch, donation incentives like choosing the name of the speedrunner’s save file, challenging the runner with special tasks, or passing along messages to viewers kept the audience engaged in the fundraising process.
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Today, Uyama announced that he is leaving the organization he founded after 13 years. Although Uyama isn’t sure where he’ll go next, he said that “one thing I am sure about is that I will take a break and a vacation before diving headfirst into my next adventure.” The mantle is being passed to Matt Merkle, who has long held a position as Games Done Quick’s Director of Operations. Although Games Done Quick is understandably sad to see the founder part ways, the organization remains dedicated to continuing its work as a platform for speedrunning and altruism. Additionally, Games Done Quick’s 2023 events appear to be proceeding as scheduled.
In total, Games Done Quick has earned over $41 million over the course of 37 speedrunning events for various causes such as Doctors Without Borders during Japan’s 2011 tsunami crisis, The Trevor Project which works toward LGBTQ suicide prevention, and Direct Relief which helped victims of COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic. Games featured in the marathons range across every genre and console generation, from Elden Ring speedruns to classics like Sonic and Spyro.
The next Games Done Quick event will be running from January 8 through January 15 and will feature dozens of titles. The event will likely take a moment to honor Mike Uyama for starting the organization. Some of the challenges to be featured in this year’s Awesome Games Done Quick are Resident Evil 7, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and a speedrun of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. One player will even be speedrunning Final Fantasy 14’s Palace of the Dead without a mouse.
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