Summer Games Done Quick 2020 Moves Online: Here's What's Changing

There's no lack of speedrunning marathons out there, and they've all had to grapple with what to do amid the COVID-19 outbreak. We've already seen some speedrunning events canceled while others have moved online. We learned over the weekend that Summer Games Done Quick 2020 will now be hosted entirely online when it happens in August.

This is the second change that Games Done Quick has announced for SGDQ 2020. Originally, SGDQ 2020 was supposed to kick off on June 21st, but in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, GDQ delayed SDGQ 2020 to an August 16th start date.

At the time, GDQ still expected to SGDQ 2020 to be a live event, but over the weekend, the organization announced that the marathon will be hosted entirely online. SGDQ 2020 will still run from August 16th to the 23rd, but now speedrunners will be showcasing their runs from home while some GDQ staff members broadcast the event from GDQ's new studio.

"Games Done Quick has been actively monitoring the situation surrounding COVID-19," the organization said on its website. "As we prioritize the health and safety of everyone who attends GDQ events, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the on-site portion of Summer Games Done Quick 2020 and instead proceed with an online-only event, called Summer Games Done Quick 2020 Online."

As always, Summer Games Done Quick 2020 will be raising money for Doctors Without Borders. SGDQ 2020 was the first GDQ event to raise over $3 million, with total donations coming to $3,039,596. It'll be interesting to see if SGDQ 2020 can top that amount despite being held online. We'll find out soon enough, as Summer Games Done Quick 2020 Online will kick off on August 16th.