Summer Games Done Quick does more than $3M for charity

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Among the highlights at this year's big summer speedrunning event was a 30-minute blast through Elden Ring.

Summer Games Done Quick 2022
(Image credit: Games Done Quick)

Summer Games Done Quick wrapped up its annual speedrunning extravaganza for charity over the weekend with a heroic half-hour run through Elden Ring and more than $3 million raised for Doctors Without Borders, an international organization that delivers emergency medical aid to people impacted by wars, natural disasters, and epidemics.

The final figure clocked in at an astounding $3,016,200, Games Done Quick said on Twitter. That's a good jump over the past couple of years, which saw a decrease in fundraising after going online-only because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but not the first time the summer event has broken the $3 million mark: That happened in 2019, which was also the last time the event was held in-person prior to its return to a live audience this year. It also brings the total amount of money raised for charities since the debut of Games Done Quick in 2010 to more than $40 million.

Summer Games Done Quick was broadcast live over Twitch, and all runs from the event are also now available on YouTube. 

Got 23 minutes for Metal Gear?

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Or you could watch this Doom Eternal run and learn what a "yeet blast" is.

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If retro is more your thing, here's Powerslave Exhumed in under 30 minutes.

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Say hello to the vanguard of your destruction in less time than it takes to watch a Marvel movie.

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Here's The Pathless, one of my favorite games of recent years, done from start to finish in under two hours.

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And as promised, Elden Ring in a half-hour. (Slightly more than that—33:58 to be precise.)

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This particular journey through the Lands Between is remarkable to watch. It's an any% run, meaning that the only thing that matters is getting from start to finish as quickly as possible—and that means taking advantage of terrain, glitches, and general in-game funkiness in some very creative ways. For a more comprehensive tour of the game, including a brutal two-second beatdown of Godrick (which gets plenty funky in its own right), there's also a two-hour All Remembrances run.)

The next Games Done Quick event will see the return of Flame Fatales, an annual all-women speedrunning showcase set to run August 21-27. This year's Flame Fatales will be raising money for Malala Fund, which supports education for girls around the world.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.