The next Awesome Games Done Quick, otherwise known as AGDQ 2023, has announced that the event will be online-only. As stated on its official Twitter account, the speedrunning event will not be held at its planned Orlando, Florida location in January 2023 due to the state’s policies against Covid-19 safety and the LGBTQ+ community. However, this decision comes at a hefty cost, as AGDQ has chosen not to cancel its contract with the Florida venue.
AGDQ 2023 wants “a safe place” for its community
Given the state’s continued disregard for COVID-19’s dangers (including anti-mandate policies) and an increased aggression towards LGBTQ+ individuals, including the law colloquially known as "Don't Say Gay," we do not believe it is a safe place for our community.
— Games Done Quick 🔜 #PAXWest (@GamesDoneQuick) September 7, 2022
The event runners have claimed that it’s just too risky to hold AGDQ 2023 in Florida, stating in a tweet (posted above):
“Given the state’s continued disregard for COVID-19’s dangers (including anti-mandate policies) and an increased aggression towards LGBTQ+ individuals, including the law colloquially known as “Don’t Say Gay,” we do not believe it is a safe place for our community.”
AGDQ had secured a contract with the Florida venue after the success of AGDQ 2020 in part due to cheaper flights to the state, but the global pandemic put any plans on hosting an in-person event on hold. The cancellation fee of this contract, however, is “too great to justify relocating AGDQ,” explains another tweet. And with no option to delay the contract any further, the charity marathon has been decided to move AGDQ 2023 online.
Given that a handful of AGDQ events have been online-only as well these last few years, this shouldn’t be a huge change of pace for viewers and streamers. AGDQ 2022, which ended January 15 earlier this year, was extremely successful and raised over $3.4 million for charity, so going back online again for AGDQ 2023 shouldn’t put too much of a dent in total donations.
As the winter counterpart to Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), AGDQ 2023 will be held on January 8 to January 15. The event runners are asking its community for additional support through Twitch subscriptions to help them recoup their costs from the venue contract. It has also sent a reminder that submissions for games and volunteers will open on September 11.
In other news, Square Enix has revealed the Final Fantasy 14 Callback Campaign in an effort to get offline players back into the game, and the lower-cost Xbox Elite Series 2 Core controller is available for pre-order now.
