AGDQ 2025 Collects $2.5M for Charity

Summary

• Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 raised over $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, surpassing the 2024 total by $100,000.
• The organization's mission is focused on early cancer detection and prevention, along with funding research and outreach programs.
• The 18-minute Crazy Taxi run stole the show, raising over $24,000 in donations.

From January 5 to January 13, Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) 2025 raised over $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, exceeding the previous year's total by more than $100,000. This annual winter event, organized by Games Done Quick (GDQ), featured captivating speedruns from games such as Crazy Taxi, Super Metroid, and other titles spanning various genres.

Awesome Games Done Quick, held every January, is one of GDQ's two mainline events, with Summer Games Done Quick taking place in July. GDQ also hosts smaller events like Frame Fatales and GDQ Express to keep the momentum going between these marathons. In October 2024, GDQ organized an impromptu event called Disaster Relief Done Quick in response to Hurricane Helene's devastation in the Southeastern US. In just over two days, this event raised over $45,000 for Direct Relief, a charity focused on providing emergency supplies, transportation, and medical aid to disaster-stricken areas.

As the new year kicked off, Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 made a significant impact by raising over $2.5 million for cancer research. The event, which ran from January 5 to January 13, exceeded the AGDQ 2024 total by more than $100,000. The Prevent Cancer Foundation, the beneficiary of these funds, is dedicated to early cancer detection and prevention, as well as supporting research and outreach programs. This collaboration between GDQ and the Prevent Cancer Foundation has now raised over $26 million across multiple events. AGDQ 2025 was held in Pittsburgh and started with an impressive run of the Switch version of Pikmin by speedrunner Ray0ken, completed within an hour.

Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 Raises Over $2.5 Million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation

A standout moment from AGDQ 2025 was the thrilling run of Crazy Taxi, a beloved Dreamcast game. Known for its fast-paced gameplay, Crazy Taxi poses unique streaming challenges due to its copyrighted music, which can lead to muting or Twitch takedowns. However, speedrunner Chuckles825 overcame this hurdle with the help of a live band that performed Crazy Taxi's music alongside the gameplay. This innovative 18-minute run not only entertained the audience but also raised over $24,000 in donations.

The final event of AGDQ 2025 was a randomized, four-player race of the SNES classic Super Metroid, where runners Eddie and Andy finished within a mere second of each other, showcasing the intense competition and skill at the event. GDQ's next event, Summer Games Done Quick 2025, is scheduled to take place in Minneapolis starting July 6, and will support Doctors Without Borders.