Games Done Quick Announces Charity Event For Hurricane Helene Relief

In light of Hurricane Helene, which has quickly become the deadliest storm to hit the mainland United States since Hurricane Katrina, Games Done Quick (GDQ) announced it will be hosting a speedrunning charity event to raise money for aid. Disaster Relief Done Quick will be held from October 11 at 6 p.m. EDT to October 13 at midnight on Game Done Quick’s Twitch channel, and submissions for games are currently open until Sunday.

Donations from the event will go to Direct Relief, which GDQ describes as “a humanitarian aid organization with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies—without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. Direct Relief has already offered assistance to more than 50 safety net healthcare providers in the storm’s path and will continue assessing the needs of impacted areas and providing resources such as emergency medical supplies, hygiene kits, and transportation support.” The organization received a 100% score from Charity Navigator. This is the second time Games Done Quick has partnered with Direct Relief, and in 2020, they held Corona Relief Done Quick, which raised over $400,000.

For those who haven’t been following GDQ, the organization is most known for its biannual events, Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick, which raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders. For the last few years, these two speedrunning marathons have consistently raised between two and three million dollars per event, putting together $51 million cumulatively since the charity’s inception in 2010.

And those who’ve watched these streams can tell you why it’s been such a hit: it’s very engaging to watch people absolutely demolish many of these games, and it’s doubly exciting to see so much money raised for good causes. The event has helped bring speedrunning into the spotlight by showcasing the skill that goes into cracking these videogames wide open, and in a games industry surrounded by constant bad news, it’s nice to see an inclusive community using the medium to make a tangible difference. Considering the widespread tragedy currently affecting the southeast, something which seems it will only become more common as climate change continues to incite extreme weather events, we’re unfortunately going to need a whole lot of that kind of goodwill going forward (and hopefully structural changes that address the root problems of global warming, even if that increasingly feels hard to hope for).