European Speedrunner Assembly
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European Speedrunner Assembly (ESA), formerly European Speedster Assembly, is a semi-annual video game speedrunning charity marathon held in Sweden. Held since 2012, the events have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for several charities.
The two flagship events of the European Speedrunner Assembly are ESA Winter, held in February every year, and ESA Summer, held between June and August every year. Both events last seven days. In addition to these events, ESA also hosts smaller European-based speedrunning events such as the Benelux Speedrunner Gathering (BSG), as well as Break the Record: Live, a three-day competition to break the world record of a specified game and category. They also host special charity marathons. By 2016, ESA was the second-largest speedrunning event globally. It has been described as "a kind of European federation for these virtual 'athletes'."
Events are broadcast live on Twitch. Viewers are encouraged to donate with incentives and bids, such as choosing character names, having runners perform additional tasks, or extra bonus runs.
Format
ESA runs two main marathons, ESA Winter and ESA Summer, which raise money for charities such as Alzheimerfonden. Speedrunners present runs where they try to beat their chosen games and categories within an estimated time, which is broadcast live on Twitch and in front of a studio audience. Many of the runs feature bonus incentives and additional challenges, such as difficulty upgrades or being performed blindfolded. There are also non-standard speedrun formats, such as relay races.
When donating, donors can choose to put their money towards a particular incentive, such as naming characters.
European Speedrunner Assembly is affiliated with several smaller marathons that use the ESAMarathon Twitch channel, such as Benelux Speedrunner Gathering (BSG) and United Kingdom Speedrunner Gathering (UKSG).
Break the Record: Live
Break the Record: Live is a sponsored event run by ESA, where the top qualifying players of a particular game and category compete to break the world record live in said category. A prize pool is split amongst the runners depending on their placings during the event, with additional prize money being awarded for breaking the record.
The first event was announced on December 26, 2019, for the Super Mario 64 120 Star category. The seven highest ranked Super Mario 64 speedrunners were flown to Sweden to participate in the live event. The event was sponsored by Elgato Gaming with a $5,000 prize pool, with the first prize being $3,000. An additional $5,000 grand prize was allocated for breaking the record.
In July 2020, the second event, for Doom Eternal, was held during ESA Summer Online 2020, sponsored by the internet security developer Kaspersky Lab.
During a total of eleven Break the Record events held in 2020–2022, the world record has been broken six times.
History
In August 2012, Swedish gaming organisation Ludendi hosted a streaming marathon called European Speedster Assembly in Skövde, raising money for the charity Hand in Hand. It was inspired by Games Done Quick, a similar charity speedrunning marathon based in America.
Ludendi also hosted the events in 2013 and 2014. From 2015, ESA has used the Twitch channel europeanspeedsterassembly.
In 2016, ESA changed its name to European Speedrunner Assembly.
In 2018 the organisation officially registered as a company under the name European Speedrunner Assembly AB. The ESA planned to open an amusement arcade in a former industrial site in Växjö in November 2018. This later turned into Smålands Spelhall which officially opened in 2019.
In 2023, ESA reaffirmed its commitment to supporting any and all gender identities.
ESA Winter 2024, which was held during February 2024, was the first ESA event that was not a continuous 24-hour stream throughout the event, but instead the broadcast was interrupted by scheduled overnight breaks. This type of scheduling was also used for the following ESA Summer 2024 event.
Following a pause for the Winter 2025 event, ESA Summer 2025 was announced to move from its usual July spot and would instead take place in from 27 June – 6 July 2025, with both streams and a 24/7 'fully live' schedule, for the first time since 2023.
List of events and marathons
ESA Summer
| Dates | Location and venue | Charity | Donations raised | Information / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 16–19, 2012 | Skövde Kulturhus, Skövde | Hand in Hand | $2,607–$3,100 | |
| July 15–21, 2013 | Nyeport, Skövde | Doctors Without Borders | $19,221–$20,155 | |
| July 27–August 3, 2014 | $35,349 | ESA began using two separate streaming channels with individual schedules and game lists. | ||
| June 28–July 5, 2015 | Skövde Kulturhus, Skövde | $25,171 | ||
| July 23–30, 2016 | Fortnox Arena, Växjö | Save the Children | $31,584 | European Speedster Assembly changed name to European Speedrunner Assembly. The marathon only had one stream and schedule this year. |
| July 22–29, 2017 | $58,626 | |||
| July 21–28, 2018 | Quality Hotel View, Malmö | $71,598 | Due to ESA Winter launching in February 2018, marathons in July are officially labelled as ESA Summer. The company European Speedrunner Assembly AB had been founded. | |
| July 20–27, 2019 | Alzheimerfonden | $85,945 | ||
| July 24–August 2, 2020 | No in-person venue | $51,985 | Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ESA Summer 2020 was replaced with ESA Summer Online, with runners sharing their game feed from their homes. The in person event was pushed back to October 2020 but was later cancelled. Only one stream channel and schedule was used. | |
| July 23–31, 2021 | Save the Children | $67,325 | Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ESA Summer 2021 was held online. Only one stream channel and schedule was used. | |
| July 23–30, 2022 | Quality Hotel View, Malmö | $120,185 | Current donation record set at an ESA event. The event raised money specifically towards Save the Children's work in Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian war. | |
| July 22–29, 2023 | Alzheimerfonden | $100,377 | The marathon had two streams: the main stream aired non-stop for the whole duration of the event; the second stream aired during February 23–29, 2023 and featured scheduled overnight breaks. | |
| July 20–27, 2024 | $57,724 | Single stream. This was the first ESA Summer event that had a scheduled overnight break. | ||
| June 27–July 5, 2025 | $56,666 | Two streams: the main stream airs non-stop for the whole duration of the event; the second stream airs during June 29–July 5, 2025. |
ESA Winter
| Dates | Location and venue | Charity | Donations raised | Information / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 20–24, 2018 | Quality Hotel Royal Corner, Växjö | Save the Children | $22,611 | First time ESA Winter was held. The marathon only had one stream. Over 50 games were played. |
| February 18–24, 2019 | $30,075 | ESA Winter began using both streaming channels as well, with individual schedules and game lists. | ||
| February 16–22, 2020 | Quality Hotel View, Malmö | $60,570 | ||
| February 12–21, 2021 | No in-person venue | Alzheimerfonden | $47,531 | Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ESA Winter 2021 was held online, with runners sharing their game feed from their homes. Only one stream channel and schedule was used. |
| February 12–20, 2022 | Quality Hotel View, Malmö | $106,405 | First event held on a physical venue after the COVID-19 pandemic. First single ESA event to reach over $100,000 in collected charity. The event consisted of a "pre-show" online, with the runners sharing their game feeds from their homes. | |
| February 18–25, 2023 | $104,205 | The marathon had two streams: the main stream (106 games played) aired non-stop for the whole duration of the event; the second stream (48 games played) aired daily from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. (UTC+1) during February 20–25, 2023. | ||
| February 17–24, 2024 | Make-A-Wish Foundation | $85,146 | Two streams. This was the first ESA event that had a scheduled overnight break to allow volunteers to rest. | |
| February 7–14, 2026 | Two streams: the main stream airs non-stop for the whole duration of the event; the second stream airs during February 9–13, 2026. |
Break the Record: Live
| Dates | Game | Category | Record broken | Winner | Prize pool | Information / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 31–February 2, 2020 | Super Mario 64 | 120 Star | Yes | Cheese | $10,000 | The world record was publicly considered broken even though it didn't beat the fastest time ever published, also by Cheese, as that record was unverified due to parts of the gameplay footage missing. |
| July 26–27, 2020 | Doom Eternal | No Major Glitches | xiae | $5,000 | Held within ESA Summer 2020, during a single day. Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| October 30–November 2, 2020 | Sonic Adventure DX | All Stories | Niczur | $3,000 | Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| December 4–7, 2020 | Dark Souls: Remastered | All Bosses | catalyst | $5,000 | Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| January 15–18, 2021 | Spelunky 2 | All Shortcuts + Tiamat Cosmic Ocean | Yes No | d_tea | $3,000 $5,000 | Featured two categories with the competition for one being held on the first day and the other held the final two days. Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The runner d_tea won both events. |
| April 30–May 3, 2021 | Minecraft | 1.16 Random Seed Glitchless | No | Reignex | $10,000 | A second prize pool of $20,000 was provided by Dream, offering $4,000 for the first five runs under 15 minutes. Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. |
| May 28–31, 2021 | Super Mario Sunshine | Any% | JJsrll | $5,000 | Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| October 29–31, 2021 | Super Mario 64 | 70 Star | dwhatever | $5,000 | Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| July 15–16, 2022 | Benji64 | $5,000 | Held at TwitchCon Europe 2022 in Amsterdam. | |||
| October 29–31, 2022 | Sonic Mania | Sonic & Tails (Good Ending) | Yes | Raflmir | $5,000 | Online event. |
| November 26–28, 2022 | Super Mario 64 | 120 Star | No | Cheese | $5,000 | Online event. |
Other events
| Event name | Dates | Location and venue | Charity | Donations raised | Information / Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESA at Dreamhack Winter 2015 | November 26–29, 2015 | Elmia Congress & Concert Hall, Jönköping | N/A | N/A | ESA's first official appearance at DreamHack. |
| ESA at Dreamhack Summer 2016 | June 18–21, 2016 | ESA at Dreamhack Summer 2016 was held partially online and partially with runners attending on site. | |||
| ESA: Winter Highlights 2016 | November 24–27, 2016 | $1,089 | ESA: Winter Highlights 2016 donations went towards supporting ESA as an organisation. The event was held at DreamHack Winter 2016. | ||
| ESA at Dreamhack Summer 2017 | June 17–19, 2017 | Save the Children | $280 | ||
| ESA Movember | November 23–26, 2018 | Smålands Spelhall, Växjö | Movember Foundation | $7,199 | ESA Movember was held partially online and partially with runners attending on site. |
| ESA TwitchCon Europe 2019 | April 13–14, 2019 | CityCube Berlin, Berlin | $6,175 | The schedule for ESA TwitchCon Europe 2019 was created by inviting former, established runners to attend the event. The event was held at TwitchCon Europe 2019 in Berlin. | |
| ESA @ Dreamhack Winter 2019 | November 29–December 1, 2019 | Elmia Congress & Concert Hall, Jönköping | $3,809 | The schedule for ESA @ Dreamhack Winter 2019 was created by inviting former, established runners to attend the event. | |
| ESA Vinterspelen / Metakothon | December 29–30, 2019 | Stortorget, Malmö | Save the Children | $2,469 | A small event held within the central square of Malmö, Sweden. The event was held completely in a part-glass container and only featured speedruns from a runner named Metako. |
| ESA Together | April 6–14, 2020 | No in-person venue | N/A | $12,344 | This event was held to support ESA and affiliated marathons during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. |
| ESA Corona Relief | May 28–June 1, 2020 | Save the Children | $25,238 | An event that raised money towards Save the Children's coronavirus emergency appeal during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| ESA Legends | December 6–10, 2023 | Make-A-Wish Foundation | $12,575 | An event catered to showcasing longer RPG runs. |