The streamer Felix “xQc” Lengyel (25) was number one on Twitch in November 2020. No one had more viewers on the huge streaming platform. However, his charisma and prominence did not help xQc when he faced an unknown flamer in Call of Duty: Cold War. This led xQc into a yelling duel.
xQc is currently this successful: The Canadian is the streamer with the most viewer hours in 2020:
- xQc is simply always live – he streams more than 10 hours daily and only takes a sporadic day off
- the 25-year-old resonates with young viewers – he wildly switches games, reacts to clips online, and engages constantly with his chat
- his channel keeps growing – in the last month alone, xQc gained 477,660 new followers.
- allegedly, xQc is also number 1 in Twitch revenue. Through subscriptions, he is said to earn $1.6 million a year
- xQc was watched for 131.8 million hours in the last 365 days. With that, xQc is in first place, ahead of summit1g, who streams similarly much.
Actually, xQc is a former Overwatch pro and shooter player, but recently he has found success with titles like Among Us and Fall Guys. xQc recently sparked an outrage for cheating in Fall Guys. However, that only made him more popular.
At the moment, xQc is clearly number 1 on Twitch, but now he has faced his limits.
It’s 3 AM on a damn Monday
This is how xQc tried to calm the flamers: The players of Call of Duty are considered quite aggressive. xQc found himself one night in a particularly toxic lobby while streaming live on Twitch. Before he could say anything, people were yelling at each other to shut up.
xQc then says:
“Guys, guys, guys, it’s 3 AM on a damn Monday, you’re playing Call of Duty and talking nonsense.”
But immediately he was met with raw hatred. One of the flamers recognized xQc and told him to be quiet, his content was crap. Several harsh insults followed; xQc was now in the crosshairs of the flamers.
With a stunned look, xQc listened to the tirade and tried to stay calm.
This continued: After xQc got eliminated in the match of Call of Duty: Cold War, he asked the flamer, “That was you, right?”
The flamer began, after a short delay, to insult xQc as a “crying man-baby” and “screaming child”, quickly found a notable flame groove, and fired harsh insults at xQc in rapid succession.
He then reacted, as he used to in his old Overwatch days, and flamed back in the same tone and at a significantly higher volume.
The number one on Twitch engaged in a shouting duel with a total stranger who got him riled up in seconds.
Screaming culture on Twitch – the fans love it
This is what’s behind it: xQc is live every 10 days for hours and usually tries to be a role model for his mostly young viewers. He will surely regret blowing up over nothing in a quiet moment.
But it seems to be part of the “gamer culture” to not take any crap: When being yelled at, this culture requires one to shout back even louder to show that one will not back down.
“The smarter one gives in” is replaced by “Whoever shouts the loudest will be heard.”
This week, it became particularly evident that “loud flaming as a status symbol” has arrived at the top of Twitch. Three of the biggest streamers on Twitch: xQc, the LoL star Tyler1, and the now muscular Fortnite star Tfue yelled at each other at full volume.
The loudest one seems to have the motto that the louder the other is, the louder one must shout.
But apparently, the young fans really enjoy this. The three streamers are not at the top for no reason; they are there precisely because they sometimes blow up.
xQc seems to be always just 2 minutes away from a Twitch ban. He once received such a ban for playing “Connect Four” in a game on Steam. After winning a match against a virtual schoolgirl, he clicked something he definitely should not have clicked.
Twitch bans xQc, one of the most popular streamers in the world
