The Games Done Quick charity fundraising organization has landed itself in hot water shortly after the latest GDQ event’s conclusion by announcing a partnership with video game developer SNK, a company effectively owned by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
GDQ was riding its latest high after the completion of Summer Games Done Quick, the latest in a long series of speedrunning marathons during which volunteer speedrunners showcase their gaming skills while viewers and fans at home donate money towards a charitable cause. SGDQ 2026 saw over $2 million raised to benefit Doctors without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières.
But the cheery attitude soon gave way to caution and concern when GDQ announced after the event’s conclusion a new partnership with SNK to promote the 30th anniversary of the Metal Slug franchise.
Why are people upset with GDQ about SNK?
A partnership between GDQ and SNK has many people upset who claim that SNK’s ownership runs against some of the values at the core of the Games Done Quick mission and experience.
SNK is owned by the MiSK Foundation, which took on nearly full control of the game developer in a 2022 deal. The MiSK Foundation is a Saudi Arabian company which is itself directly controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, a controversial figure internationally.
GDQ has often promoted itself as a safe space for people of queer identities, proudly hosting LGBTQ+ community members during its Games Done Quick speedrunning marathons. Volunteers at GDQ have also adapted public-facing stances decrying global conflict, and that tradition carried on at SGDQ 2026 with an emotional plea for peace being given live on camera.
Some fans of GDQ and donors to its charitable cause are decrying the newly-announced partnership with SNK specifically because of purported issues with the Saudi Arabian government’s treatment of LGBTQ+ people, and its involvement in some of the very conflicts that volunteer speedrunners have spoken out against.
Adding to the furor is the accusation that GDQ had specifically timed the announcement for after the SGDQ 2026 marathon’s conclusion so that the partnership with SNK wouldn’t draw any criticism while donations were still being actively sought.
Those accusations were given more fuel when multiple users across social media began popping up to report that they had been banned from chatting in the official gamesdonequick Twitch channel after raising their concerns over the GDQ and SNK partnership.
This isn’t the first time that Saudi ownership of SNK has created controversy. The company’s latest fighting game, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, had multiple characters seemingly added to its roster to placate the company’s new ownership. This included soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who had then recently signed with a pro team based in Saudi Arabia.
GDQ has itself seen its share of controversies in the past, but they’ve typically been minor and more related to on-screen drama involving the event’s speedrunners. This latest issue is of a far different variety, with fans of the organization and donors alike questioning both GDQ’s credibility and its response to subsequent questioning.
UPDATE: Games Done Quick has responded to the community outcry by dropping its partnership with SNK and canceling a sponsored stream meant to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Metal Slug. The organization cited a failure to “conduct the level of review our community should expect from us” as the reason for the original partnership being approved, though it gave no further details on this process.
A post by GDQ on bluesky pointed to “human rights concerns” related to Saudi Arabia and its Public Investment Fund, from which the funds to purchase SNK originated, as the reason for the decision. Games Done Quick reiterated that it was “committed to supporting human rights and inclusivity.”
It has also been claimed on social media that any Twitch users banned from the gamesdonequick Twitch channel for questioning the partnership have had their bans rescinded.
