Global Speedrun Association reveals live competition, cash prizes up for grabs

Speedruning competition organiser the Global Speedrun Association will hold its first live event in April, where Celeste, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Odyssey speedrunners will compete for cash prizes.

The speedrunning community is known for its collaborative spirit, and for sharing knowledge and tricks between players, so the GSA's announcement has caused a stir. It has previously hosted streamed speedrunning competitions with cash prizes, partly funded by its relationships with both developers and online gambling company Esports Entertainment Group, but hosting a live event represents a widening of its scope.

The GSA said the event will include the grand finals of its Super Mario 64, Super Mario Odyssey and Celeste leagues, as well as panels with famous speedrunners. It will announce the location of the event and begin selling tickets in the "coming weeks".

Some influential speedrunners have since spoken out against the event. German runner OddBod has written a lengthy post that is worth digging into if you're interested—basically, he thinks competitive speedrunning encourages players to hide faster strategies from one another, which damages the community as a whole. He also thinks that cash prizes could lead to cheating and even match fixing.

Speedrunner MunchaKoopas has also spoken out against the GSA in a series of tweets, saying games that don't have competitions for cash prizes could end up abandoned by other runners.

What do you think?