In Part 1, we discussed the rise and fall of legendary Overwatch player Félix “xQc” Lengyel in terms of esports success - from MVP trophy to fired from his team. This time, we are taking a look at his career that followed and where he stands now.
Twitch
In a true World Wrestling Entertainment tradition, if people don’t learn to like a quirky hero, they learn to love a charismatic villain.
When xQc was kicked out of the Overwatch League for his aggressive, offensive and (mostly) unapologetic behavior, he quickly took to Twitch and made it a full-time job.
On the streaming platform, the Winston main was his authentic self, toxicity galore, and people loved it. Viewers came in droves – more than 10,000 concurrent – to watch some exceptional Overwatch gameplay spiced up with memes, reactions to YouTube videos and the occasional drama with a viewer of a fellow content creator.
The more keyboards xQc smashed, the more viewers were subscribing, consistently averaging 30,000.
The stream, while displaying a high level of play, was fun at first. In 2019, Lengyel made an honest attempt to get back into esports and continue to compete on a proper level with the Academy team GOATS. Many Overwatch fans might have heard the word “goats” thrown around when describing a certain hero composition – that’s because these guys invented it.
Later, he was invited to participate in the 2018 World Cup for Team Canada, where they lost to China, who in turn lost the gold to Korea.
During his time at BlizzCon, xQc was trolled by the organizers who entertained the viewers at his expense. He later briefly joined the Gladiators Legion, the LA Gladiators Academy team.
An esports career just wasn’t in the cards for xQc.
Where is he now?
The bad-boy Winston continued to be a one-man show. He rubbed shoulders with some of the most influential streamers on the platform and took advantage of his fame.
His content wasn’t Overwatch-only, far from it. In fact, xQc would allow his viewers to dictate what he does and the list would go ever crazier - from YouTube watching parties all the way to 9-hour sleeping streams.
The party was put to a stop when controversy hit one last time. This time, Lengyel got banned from Twitch for unintentionally showing a picture of a topless anime girl while playing a seemingly innocent game – something that’s against Twitch’s rules.
Twitch Partner "xQcOW" (@xqc) has been banned! https://t.co/Yg2gbrUP9c#twitch #ban #secondban #partner #twitchpartner BO
— StreamerBans (@StreamerBans) March 1, 2020
Three days later, the ban was lifted and xQc came back with his “monkey business”, with a steady stream of viewers who tune in to enjoy his content daily.
From an exceptional player, to your stereotypical toxic gamer, Félix “xQc” Lengyel has had one hell of a run so far. His high energy and explosive temper have the rare ability to repel and attract masses of people, making him the star of the show every time he appears on camera.
It’s a jungle out there, and xQc is the big monkey with the lightning gun.
Did you find xQc’s story interesting? If you missed Part 1 of his tale, you can find it here. And for another controversial esports pro, check out the story of LoL’s Forg1ven.
