Mike Uyama, the founder of renowned speedrunning charityGames Done Quick, has announced that he will be departing from the organization and moving on to his next adventure. Matt Merkle,Games Done Quick’s director of operations, will be taking over Uyama’s role as managing director as the organization begins its next chapter.
BeforeGames Done Quick earned millionsfor charity on behalf of the speedrunning community, the organization had humble beginnings hosting its debut 2010 event in founder Mike Uyama’s mother’s basement due to connectivity problems at the original venue. While this first event featuring classic 16-bit and 8-bit speedruns earned a respectable $10,000 for CARE, the organization would grow exponentially into one of the most-watched speedrunning events of the year. Hosted in front of a live audience and on Twitch, donation incentives like choosing the name of the speedrunner’s save file, challenging the runner with special tasks, or passing along messages to viewers kept the audience engaged in the fundraising process.
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Today, Uyama announced that he is leaving the organization he founded after 13 years. Although Uyama isn’t sure where he’ll go next, he said that “one thing I am sure about is that I will take a break and a vacation before diving headfirst into my next adventure.” The mantle is being passed to Matt Merkle, who has long held a position as Games Done Quick’s Director of Operations. Although Games Done Quick is understandably sad to see the founder part ways, the organization remains dedicated to continuing its work as a platform for speedrunning and altruism. Additionally,Games Done Quick’s 2023 eventsappear to be proceeding as scheduled.
In total, Games Done Quick has earned over $41 million over the course of 37 speedrunning events for various causes such as Doctors Without Borders during Japan’s 2011 tsunami crisis, The Trevor Project which works toward LGBTQ suicide prevention, and Direct Relief which helped victims of COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic. Games featured in the marathons range across every genre and console generation, fromElden Ringspeedrunsto classics likeSonicandSpyro.
The next Games Done Quick event will be running from January 8 through January 15 and will feature dozens of titles. The event will likely take a moment to honor Mike Uyama for starting the organization. Some of the challenges to be featured in this year’s Awesome Games Done Quick areResident Evil 7, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy,Super Mario Galaxy 2, and aspeedrun ofThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.One player will even be speedrunningFinal Fantasy 14’s Palace of the Dead without a mouse.
