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Summer Games Done Quick 2022 will be an in-person event

After two years of online events, Summer Games Done Quick 2022 will return to Bloomington, MN with a live crowd.

Ozzie Mejia

March 21, 2022 11:45 AM

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There was a lot to be excited about over the weekend, so here's a story that slipped under our radar, but is nonetheless worth getting excited about. After a long COVID-19 pandemic, one that finally appears to be subsiding, the time for online Games Done Quick events looks to be at an end, at least for the time being. On Friday, GDQ announced the dates for Summer Games Done Quick 2022 and also noted that it will be an in-person event for the first time since the pandemic.

Summer Games Done Quick 2022 will run from June 26 through July 3. This is the first confirmation of the event's dates following a record-breaking Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 Online that ended with SGDQ's dates revealed for an unknown Summer 2022 period. With the confirmation of those dates comes the announcement that Games Done Quick will return to Bloomington, Minnesota, the home of previous SGDQ events.

As for COVID-19 precautions, let's look at the Games Done Quick website:

In accordance with our stance on safety, SGDQ2022 will be requiring full COVID-19 vaccinations (with proof), as well as KN95/N95 masks, for all attendees of the event. Social distancing will be practiced in all event spaces. The event attendance cap will be reduced in order to facilitate social distancing requirements.

Some on-site areas will not be returning this summer, such as the panels and board game room, as they are not currently feasible with our COVID-19 policies. Others, such as the arcade, may be more limited in scope.

Furthermore, GDQ notes that a limited number of remote runs will be accepted. This is likely for the international user base, which follows their respective countries' own COVID-19 protocols. The international runners were a specific concern to the GDQ team in regards to any return to in-person events. Prior to last year's SGDQ, Shacknews spoke with Kasumi "Sumichu" Yogi about what it would take for GDQ to return to a live audience, an interview that you can catch in the embed above.

Whether Summer Games Done Quick 2022 remains an in-person event in the wake of potential new COVID-19 variants remains to be seen, but it looks like precautions are being taken and everything looks to be full speed ahead. This might also pave the way for the return of Games Done Quick Express, an abbreviated GDQ event that is typically held at TwitchCon, which is also returning this year. There's a lot to unpack with this story, so Shacknews will follow along and report back with any updates.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?