Summer Games Done Quick raises $2.4 million for charity, cancels sponsored stream with SNK over Saudi Arabia ties

Summer Games Done Quick, the (self-explanatorily) summer version of Games Done Quick, has tallied a lovely $2.4 million in raised money for Doctors Without Borders, a charity that provides medical care around the world to those in need.

The number's been announced via a BlueSky post celebrating the milestone, one which was—and I must emphasise, briefly—undercut by a momentary lapse in sponsorship choice. Yesterday, the organisation announced it'd be doing a speedrunning showcase with SNK, developer of the Metal Slug franchise, for its anniversary.

SNK is a Japanese studio, but as of 2022, it's majority-owned by the MiSK Foundation—which itself is owned by Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Given the country's history of human rights violations, that's pretty contradictory to the mission statement of the charity GDQ just finished raising over $2 million for.

This prompted some immediate backlash and, credit where it's due, GDQ pulled the sponsored stream a mere three hours later, writing: "We have canceled our sponsored stream with SNK. We have heard the concerns from our community regarding this partnership, specifically the company’s majority ownership by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and the human rights concerns tied to the Saudi government.

Details

"We will not accept the funds from this sponsorship or continue to work with this sponsor again. GDQ is committed to supporting human rights and inclusivity, and we recognize that this partnership conflicted with those values."

GDQ then went on to explain it "failed to conduct the level of review our community should expect from us and that was an oversight we deeply regret and take full responsibility for."

And while it does seem like a particularly large oversight—SNK's owner is no great secret, it's on the studio's Wikipedia page—I'd truly be a cynical, stone-hearted bugger to say the great effort of $2.4 million raised for a charity that actively helps people is, in any way, meaningfully undermined by a temporary lapse in judgement. Especially given the nigh-on immediate cancellation of the stream itself.

"Going forward," GDQ says, "We will review and strengthen our process for evaluating future sponsors and partners, including closer examination of companies’ ownership, to make sure they're aligned with our values."