AGDQ 2025: Over $2.5M Raised 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, the Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) 2025 event successfully 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 speedruns of popular games like Crazy Taxi, Super Metroid, and many others across various genres.

Awesome Games Done Quick, held every January, is one of GDQ's two major events, with the other being Summer Games Done Quick in July. GDQ also hosts smaller events such as Frame Fatales and GDQ Express to keep the momentum going between the main marathons. In October 2024, GDQ organized an impromptu Disaster Relief Done Quick event to aid the Southeastern US after Hurricane Helene. In just over two days, this event raised over $45,000 for Direct Relief, a charity focused on emergency medical aid and disaster response.

As the new year kicked off, Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 continued its tradition of raising significant funds for cancer research. From January 5 to January 13, the event amassed over $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, surpassing the AGDQ 2024 total by more than $100,000. The Prevent Cancer Foundation emphasizes early cancer detection and prevention, and funds research and outreach programs. Over the years, GDQ has contributed over $26 million to the Prevent Cancer Foundation through various events. AGDQ 2025 took place in Pittsburgh and began with a swift run of the Switch version of Pikmin by speedrunner Ray0ken, completed in under an hour.

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

One of the standout moments of AGDQ 2025 was the run of Crazy Taxi, a beloved Dreamcast game. Despite challenges with copyrighted music, speedrunner Chuckles825 performed alongside a live band that played Crazy Taxi's soundtrack, making for a memorable 18-minute run that raised over $24,000 in donations.

The event concluded with an exciting randomized, four-player race of the SNES classic, Super Metroid. The race was incredibly close, with runners Eddie and Andy finishing within a mere second of each other. GDQ will return with Summer Games Done Quick 2025, set to take place in Minneapolis from July 6, supporting Doctors Without Borders.