Summary
From January 5 to January 13, theAwesome Games Done Quick(AGDQ) 2025 event raised over $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, exceeding the 2024 event’s total by over $100,000. The annualGames Done Quick(GDQ) winter event was highlighted by speedruns from games such asCrazy Taxi,Super Metroid, and other titles across multiple genres.
Held each January, Awesome Games Done Quick is one of two mainline events GDQ hosts throughout the year, with Summer Games Done Quick being its July marathon. However, GDQ has regularly hosted smaller events such as Frame Fatales and GDQ Express to fill the gaps between marathons. In October 2024, GDQ hostedan impromptu Disaster Relief Done Quick eventin response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene across the Southeastern US. In just over two days, Disaster Relief Done Quick raised over $45,000 in donations to Direct Relief, a charity that specializes in providing emergency supplies, transportation, and medical response to areas affected by natural disasters and disease.
With the new year underway, Awesome Games Done Quick raised a remarkable amount of money for cancer research. From January 5 to January 13, AGDQ 2025 raised over $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The $2.5 million total was over $100,000 more thanthe previous AGDQ 2024 event. According tothe Prevent Cancer Foundation, the organization’s mission is focused on early cancer detection and prevention, along with funding research and outreach programs. However, AGDQ 2025 was far from the first time that Games Done Quick and PCF had teamed up, as the speedrunning event has helped raise over $26 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation across multiple GDQ runs. AGDQ 2025 took place in Pittsburgh and was kicked off by a run of the Switch version ofPikminby speedrunner Ray0ken that was wrapped up within an hour.
Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 Raises Over $2.5 Million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
One of the unique highlights of AGDQ 2025 was a run ofCrazy Taxi,one of the Dreamcast’s top titles. AlthoughCrazy Taxi’s gameplay lends itself towards quick runs, its usage of copyrighted music makes streaming the game nearly impossible without either muting the game or risking a takedown by Twitch. At AGDQ, speedrunner Chuckles825 was accompanied by a live band that covered music fromCrazy Taxiin tandem with the gameplay. The 18-minuteCrazy Taxirun raised over $24,000 in donations.
AGDQ 2025’s final event was a randomized, four-player race ofthe SNES classicSuper Metroid, which saw two of the runners, Eddie and Andy, finish within one second of each other. GDQ will return on July 6, as the organization will host Summer Games Done Quick 2025 in Minneapolis for Doctors Without Borders.
