• News

Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 ends with $2.5M+ raised for charity

AGDQ 2024 has raised more than $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Hooray!

Ozzie Mejia

January 20, 2024 10:20 PM

Games Done Quick (Photo by BystanderTim)

3

After spending last January confined to an online space, Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 brought the speedrunning event back to a live venue. Following an eventful seven-day marathon in Pittsburgh, PA, the Games Done Quick team raised a final total of $2,516,507 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

AGDQ 2024's arrival in Pittsburgh partly stems from a falling out that Games Done Quick had with the event's former home state of Florida. The return to live speedrunning for AGDQ resulted in this year's final total, which is slightly lower than the $2.64 million raised last January, but higher than the $2.2 million raised during last year's Summer Games Done Quick. The final total includes direct donations, Twitch subscriptions, Twitch Bits, and purchases through GDQ partners like The Yetee and Fangamer.

One defining trait of Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 is that there were some wildly different types of runs on display. There were typical individual runs and races of some perennial favorites, along with some noteworthy GDQ debuts like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, and Lies of P. However, there were also several atypical run categories at this year's show. Gyromite was run by a dog, Super Mario 64 was played with a drum kit, and Super Mario Maker 2 featured a glitch showcase, just to name a few examples. If nothing else, these runs, along with Bid War runs that encouraged donors to pick between two games, made this year feel different without compromising the spirit of the event itself.

The Shacknews staff listed off some of our favorite runs in this week's Shack Chat feature, but it doesn't scratch the surface of some of the amazing runs shown throughout the week. In addition to the aforementioned runs, the marathon's final day offered some phenomenal showcases of games like Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, and Shacknews 2023 Game of the Year The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The event concluded with Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, which saw the live audience count down to the $2.5 million milestone, shouting "Hooray!" (a constant chorus that started with this week's run of Bluey: The Videogame) with every thousand closer they inched toward the goal.

Following last year's unusual Memorial Day weekend marathon, Summer Games Done Quick 2024 is officially set to return to its normal July 4 week home. Look for SGDQ 2024 to happen from June 30-July 6 from Minneapolis, MN. Until then, look for the women of Frame Fatales to make their return to online speedrunning when Frost Fatales 2024 takes place from March 3-9. Plus, Black History Month will see the return of Unapologetically Black and Fast (UBAF) to the GDQ Hotfix on February 17. To check out any runs you missed, you can visit Games Done Quick on YouTube and the Games Done Quick website.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?