Some impressive feats were achieved last weekend during Summer Games Done Quick. However, one speedrunner who particpated in the event remotely has admitted they cheated, revealing that a bonus Metal Gear Rising Revengeance DLC world record run they showcased was actually a series of pre-recorded segments stitched together.
The guilty party is Russian speedrunner Mekarazium, reports NME. The streamer set a world record at SGDQ's 2022 event, speeding through Metal Gear Rising Revengeance's Blade Wolf DLC faster than anyone has ever managed to do before. However, suspicion surrounding the run has grown since the weekend to the point that Mekarazium has felt the need to come forward and admit his Blade Wolf run was an illegitimate one.
“The Blade Wolf DLC run incentive people paid for is a pre-recorded segmented run,” Mekarazium admitted. “I've done an actual bad thing and I shouldn't have done this on an event. I don't want this to be one of the reasons online runs will be forever cut for everyone else.” While SGDQ is a largely in-person event, Mekarazium was given special permission to perform their run remotely and they took advantage of that.
The streamer had already performed a speedrun of the base game before moving onto the bonus DLC section. Apparently their base game run was legitimate, but other players highlighted the lack of keyboard noise and an odd audio cut near the end of the DLC run. Mounting evidence prompted Mekarazium to come forward and admit their wrongdoing to Games Done Quick through Discord. The run has been removed from GDQ's YouTube channel, and the previous world record for the Blade Wolf DLC presumably still stands.
Despite admitting they did a bad thing, Mekarazium appears to have attempted to defend their run, claiming it wasn't cheating as they never intended to submit it to leaderboards. Hopefully, this one rogue run won't cast a shadow over this year's SGDQ event which managed to raise more than $3 million for Doctors Without Borders. It may spell the end of streamers being afforded the chance to perform runs for the event without actually being there, though.