The Summer Games Done Quick 2017 speedrunning marathon has ended after a full week of playing games, bringing in a record $1.76 million in donations for the event. This is the seventh year for the annual SGDQ marathon, whose humble beginnings raised a comparatively scant $21,397. Each year since has raised increasingly large amounts of money for charity, while also increasing in size and scale. The summer speedrunning event has a bright future.

SGDQ 2017 ended early Sunday morning off the back of its finale speedrun of Earthbound. The final total for donations came to $1,760,400, which came from a mixture of direct donations and partner donations from things like t-shirt sales and Humble Bundle donating 100% of new monthly subscriptions. The record for SGDQ 2016 was an equally impressive $1.29 million, which goes to show just how staggering this summer's achievement is. To be fair, it is a day longer than last year, but for over a 35% increase in donations that's well worth the bargain.

In all fairness, SGDQ is still somewhat overshadowed by its winter sister-event, Awesome Games Done Quick. AGDQ 2017, which ran in January, raised more than $2.22 million over around the same length of marathon. Perhaps it's something to do with the holidays, or having more students and families home and relaxing, but AGDQ typically raises more donations. It's hardly a competition, because everyone wins from these great charities being so well-funded.

SGDQ's chosen charity is Doctors Without Borders, also known by Médecins Sans Frontières, an international humanitarian NGO that brings medical services and health professionals to areas of the world in need. Private donations like those made during SGDQ make up over 90% of the charity's budget. Every dollar helps, so the bigger SGDQ gets the more good can be done.

The event wouldn't be possible without all of the amazing speedrunners donating their time to the event, of course. It's not just about the runners who get to play their games on-stream, however. Every single game has a community behind it contributing to the optimization of its speedrun. And many of those communities show up to Games Done Quick events. Their participation is meaningful, even if it's just to rally their friends and fellow speedrunners.

Now marks the long wait between Games Done Quick events. Next on the schedule is AGDQ 2018, which has been announced for January 7 through January 14. It's going to be a long six months wait, but the good news is that in between now and then, pretty much every GDQ speedrunner will continue playing their games online. And better yet, they're always looking for more people to join in on the fun. Check out Speed Demos Archive or the SpeedRunsLive website for more information on how to get started.

Source: Games Done Quick – Twitter