AGDQ 2018 concludes, breaks last year’s record by raising over $2.26 million for charity

After a week on speedruns, non-stop action, and slight controvery, the world’s best speedrunning marathon has come to an end.

After a week on speedruns, non-stop action, and slight controvery, the world’s best speedrunning marathon has come to an end.

AGDQ is one of two charity speedrunning events that is hosted by GamesDoneQuick. The marathons happen twice a year, bringing in thousands of viewers to watch their favorite speedrunners destroy some of their beloved games and, in turn, donate millions of dollars to charity. The runners come from all corners of the globe, and it’s easily the world’s biggest speedrunning event.

This year, 155 games were played over a large selection of consoles. AGDQ 2018 was the most successful marathon in GDQ history, as the event raised over $2.26 million dollars, beating the previous donation record set at AGDQ 2017 by over $40,000.

The event wasn’t without controversy, however. At the start of the week, fans of the GDQ events couldn’t see any cameras showing the crowd, which had been a GDQ staple since the first streams. The organization quickly fixed this after the first few days, however.

Fans were also upset with how GDQ handled Twitch chat for this event. Only subscribers could type in Twitch chat this year, meaning people had to subscribe to the channel in order to get more involved.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the final game at this year’s event.

AGDQ will be headed to a different venue next year, ending the organization’s lengthy stay at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel, located in Herndon, Virginia. GDQ has yet to announce where the event will be held in 2019.