Speedrun event raises $1.8 million for Doctors Without Borders

The Summer Games Done Quick speedrun event raised $1.8 million for Doctors Without Borders. The money was raised in one week in donations and through auctions. During the event, gamers performed speed runs in new and old games.

The annual event took place in the United States from July 2-9. With the amount raised of 1.6 million euros, the event breaks the record of 2016, when 1.1 million euros were raised for the same charity.

A list of the more than a hundred games played has been compiled on Reddit. Gamers played relatively new games during the event, such as Nier Automata and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Older games, such as Final Fantasy VII and Crash Bandicoot, also proved to be popular. The project raised money in the form of donations from visitors and online viewers of the event, which was livestreamed via Twitch. Games, posters and T-shirts were also auctioned; the proceeds of this also went to Doctors Without Borders.

During Games Done Quick events, participants try to complete a game as quickly as possible in the so-called speed runs. To make this as interesting as possible, both players and viewers can also take on challenges during the speedruns, such as collecting all secret items or performing speedruns where the player is only allowed to use the controller with one hand.

Summer Games Done Quick is organized by Games Done Quick, which organizes a similar event every year in the winter. In the last edition of this, the organization raised a record amount of two million euros for charities. The speedruns of the past Summer Games Done Quick can be viewed on the organization’s YouTube channel.