GDQ Bans Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Speedrunner After He Admits To Cheating

thegamer.com:

Summer Games Done Quick held its first in-person event since 2019 very recently, and by most accounts it was a success, racking up more than $3 million for Doctors Without Borders. However, one incident slightly marred the speedrunning extravaganza.

While Summer Games Done Quick 2022 was mostly an in-person event, some of the competitors were allowed to participate remotely. One of these was Mekarazium, a Russian player who ran quickly through the main campaign of Metal Gear Rising: Revengance. This appeared to be a legitimate run, but when time came to speedrun through the game's Blade Wolf DLC things started getting sus.

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Spectators noticed some odd things on this speedrun. Mekarazium didn't seem to be making any keyboard sounds, even though when he was playing the main game those sounds could be heard. Once, the Russian even lifted his right hand up while his character was looking around though he claimed he was controlling the mouse with his left hand. Later, Mekarazium confessed to have cheated. It was an edited together video SGDQ viewers saw, not a live run.

"The Blade Wolf DLC run incentive people paid for is a pre-recorded, segmented run," the player told GDQ in a statement obtained by PCGamesN. "It was supposed to be a real-time run, but I've changed my mind at the last second after switching saves".

Now, GDQ has decided to ban the speedrunner from future events. In a statement provided to Engadget GDQ said Mekazarium confessed directly to its staff and had given them a document "detaling that he had planned this for over a month, demonstrating this was planned and intentional," the organisation said.

"This is absolutely