Speedrunning, the art of completing video games very, very, fast, is just one of the ways to play video games showcased on streaming titan Twitch.
Awesome Games Done Quick, the annual charity speedrunning marathon, is quickly becoming one of Twitch’s biggest events. This year, 9.4 million unique viewers tuned in to the week long festival, run from Jan. 6 to 10, which raises money through donations during over 160 hours of speedruns for a dazzling array of game titles ranging from Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda to Shovel Knight and Half-Life 2.
The event often produces some of the most exciting video game play all year, like this ridiculous Tetris run with the blocks invisible.
This year the event topped 29.2 million total impressions, nearly doubling last year’s 15.4 million, which itself grew from 7.08 million in 2013 and 1.15 million in 2012. Twitch released a handy infographic displaying some of the viewership numbers from the successful venture:
The most important number? $1.58 million, the amount raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. That’s a testament to what gamers can do when they come together over something as simple as playing video games really freaking well.
The next event will hit in Summer of this year, benefiting Doctors Without Borders, though exact dates for the festival have yet to be announced.
