I really wish I could speak well of GDQ, but it has been in a steady decline since 2015. A lot of it has to do with GDQ becoming an official organization and the change in management which ultimately resulted in GDQ becoming one of the worst representatives of the speedrunning community.

What used to be a celebration of speedrunning and appreciating the people behind it while raising some money in the process turned into a purely commercial interest. Game submissions are no longer chosen by their skillful runners and entertainment value, but by how many possible incentives could be made with them. A number of famous runners have been banned from submitting their runs, and some of them have even been banned from attending the event at all.

Beyond this, GDQ also has introduced some questionable policies for the event itself. This has been especially prominent in how the main stage has been "cleaned up". People are no longer allowed to bring certain items on stage, like plushies, game merchandise or other potentially “distracting" items. In addition to this, commentary is being restricted as well. There are several runners who received warnings and bans from GDQ for "misbehaving" on stage. One of the more famous examples was Bonesaw's Jak run at AGDQ 2017, which was wildly entertaining and easily the best run of the event in terms of entertainment value, yet he got banned from submitting runs and ultimately decided on not attending GDQ anymore. A common fate with many classic runners of the speedrunning community. Another example would be YSG, or "Yellow Shirt Guy" whose signature laugh would eventually lead GDQ staff to tell him to keep it down, even after removing him from the main stage.

GDQ is no more a celebration of speedrunning and the community behind it. It's a charity event focussed on raising enough money as possible, of which only 40% actually end up getting donated to the selected charities according to the charities' yearly financial reports.