Diablo Hackers Shatter 15-Year-Old Speedrun Record: Discover the Secrets Behind Their Stunning Achievement – IGN

Speedrunning is a favorite pastime for many gamers. Records can last for years, or even decades. But one famous Diablo speedrun has come under fire, leading to a deep investigation and eventual unraveling.

In 2009, Maciej “Groobo” Maselewski set an impressive Any% segmented run as the Sorcerer, totaling 27 segments. His time of three minutes and 12 seconds was noted on Speed Demos Archive and published on February 26, 2009. This record earned two Guinness World Records and set a high bar that others struggled to beat.

However, skepticism grew over the years. In 2024, speedrunner Funkmastermp reached out to Allan “dwangoAC” Cecil to create a Tool-Assisted Speedrun (TAS) of Diablo. Fans of Games Done Quick may know dwangoAC as the team leader for TASBot, a fun character featured during their charity events.

As the team worked on their TAS, they uncovered inconsistencies and anomalies while trying to recreate Groobo’s run. According to team member Staphen, their curiosity drove them to investigate further, leading to surprising findings.

Diablo’s use of seeds to generate maps made it possible to replicate runs—at least in theory. To find the seed Groobo used, the TAS team developed a custom map tool. This allowed them to uncover map, item, and quest options available for speedrunning.

The team sifted through around 2.2 billion RNG seeds but failed to find one that matched all of Groobo’s flawless segments. This raised red flags about the authenticity of his run.

As they dug deeper, the team found oddities: unusual version markers, inconsistent inventories, and strange quest logs.

Their final conclusion pointed to Groobo using “illegitimate means,” like mixing content from different runs and using video edits to mislead viewers.

The team confidently stated, “The run should therefore be immediately retracted from all leaderboards.” Groobo responded, clarifying that his run was always segmented and spliced, not meant for competition.

After reviewing the findings, Speed Demos Archive decided to remove all of Groobo’s Diablo runs on September 10, 2024. This prompted the Diablo speedrunning community to revive its competitive spirit and chase new records.

As dwangoAC noted, this investigation was crucial because “it did harm.” Groobo’s alleged cheating had dampened interest in speedrunning this category, leaving many feeling discouraged.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.