Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Even without a live crowd, Summer Games Done Quick 2021 Online proved to be a big success. For the second consecutive year, the biannual speedrunning event went to an online-only format out of continuing concern for the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even with an online audience, the world's top speedrunners were still able to raise a total of $2,898,355 million for Doctors Without Borders. That's higher than both Awesome Games Done Quick earlier this year and Summer Games Done Quick last year.
Summer Games Done Quick 2021 Online entered the final day of the week-long marathon with a little more than $1.5 million raised. The GDQ crew and Saturday's crop of runners nearly doubled that amount by the time the event was over. As has been the tradition for nearly a decade, the most exciting runs were saved for the final day. This included the traditional Super Metroid run, an exciting co-op run for Super Mario Bros. 3, the first GDQ run of Bowser's Fury, a 25-year anniversary run for Mario Kart 64, an incredible blindfolded Super Mario 64 run, and an amazing Souls block that featured both Dark Souls 3 and the PS5 remake of Demon's Souls. The marathon ended with a Level 1 Critical run for Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, followed by Sephiroth boss fight exhibition.
SGDQ 2021's final donation total includes direct donations, Twitch Bits, channel subscriptions (including those from Prime Gaming), and purchases from SGDQ partners, such as The Yetee and Fangamer.
Games Done Quick's future is a bit murky at the moment. Communications Director/Event Manager Kasumi "Sumichu" Yogi noted at the end of the night that GDQ is aiming for a live Awesome Games Done Quick from January 9-16, essentially taking the marathons back to normal. However, the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world (not just in the United States) will ultimately determine whether that happens. That lines up with what she told us here at Shacknews during our E5 interview back in June. If an in-person AGDQ happens, a site will be named at a later date.
In the meantime, the team will carry on with regular content, including the regular GDQ Hotfix streams and the all-woman Flame Fatales marathon, which will run from August 15-21. For more on all of that, as well as runs from throughout the past week, check out Games Done Quick on YouTube and the Games Done Quick website.