2018-02-23 / Picture: Robert Paul for Blizzard Leisure
Well-liked streamer Felix “xQc” Lengyel is claiming that the Overwatch League inflated its viewership numbers by viewbotting, and persons are calling him out for “coping.”
The Overwatch League was hype. It was. The primary few seasons had been among the many greatest esports I ever watched (outdoors the FGC). However Blizzard crashed onerous. It fumbled the OWL so badly, lowering viewership and hype by switching to YouTube Gaming. Amongst different unhealthy errors. Blizzard finally needed to pay out all the franchise groups’ organizations when the OWL didn’t get the sponsors and earnings they’d promised.
Nevertheless, xQc is now claiming that even these good seasons had been all lies.
xQc Responds To Esports Followers Claiming He’s Simply “Coping” After Being Terminated From Dallas Gasoline
Whereas reacting to a 2019 video of billionaire Mark Cuban discussing the OWL’s peak viewership of 300,000, xQc claimed that these numbers had been inflated.
“These numbers had been so botted,” xQc mentioned. “These numbers had been so botted, it’s comical. Brother, for a number of years, they tried to cover the numbers.”
xQc then claimed he had heard very totally different figures from somebody at Main League Gaming, again when the Overwatch League was testing its preseason on that platform. An “inside whistleblower” informed xQc that the variety of folks truly watching was fairly low. This precipitated xQc to say a really insightful: “Yo!?”
xQc reveals he deliberate his exit from Overwatch esports after discovering their 300k viewers on Twitch was solely 14K actual viewers 👀😳 pic.twitter.com/PEJDe9h7Qz— xQc Each day (@xQc_dailyy) April 30, 2026
At this level, xQc mentioned he’d already signed up for one more season. However he apparently went into panic mode and began organizing his exit.
“Chat, I used to be already organizing how I used to be going to exit over Overwatch League and save myself. How does it make sense for me to be a participant and a model, advertising and marketing myself? You understand what I imply? It doesn’t make sense. There may be nothing to realize… I needed to get the f*** out of there,” xQc mentioned.
He added that it felt like “charity work,” with Blizzard “sucking the blood” out of him. He wasn’t capable of make movies, stream, or vlog whereas working with the Overwatch League. He felt he was “dropping the whole lot.”
In response, numerous esports followers mentioned that xQc was simply “coping” with getting suspended from the Overwatch League. In 2018, xQc made homophobic remarks on stream directed at a rival enjoying for the Houston Outlaws. He was fined $2,000, and the Dallas Gasoline suspended him for the rest of Stage 1.
Just a few months later, xQc used an emote that was thought of racist whereas utilizing “disparaging language” in opposition to varied Overwatch League casters and gamers whereas on social media and Twitch. He was fined $4,000 this time. Dallas Gasoline terminated his contract, and xQc left the OWL.
Esports followers identified that xQc most likely didn’t have any form of plan and simply fell again on streaming as soon as he was let go. However xQc fought again in opposition to these claims. His counterarguments didn’t make him look like a very good particular person although.
He mentioned on X: “Cope for what (???) I wasn’t exhibiting as much as follow nicely earlier than I used to be even suspended the primary time to stream and transition to selection, bum.
“Let me guess, it’s not bots, it’s embeds. It’s not inflated metrics, it’s drops. And so on and many others. Did you neglect that the Season 1 contract we ALL signed was modified cuz of me to permit extra streaming? Brother, I used to be planning my exit on MEDIA DAY.”
Followers replied that xQc might have simply left as a substitute of agreeing to signal one other contract. Additionally they argued that he might have left after having a foul efficiency that season. However xQc is protecting to his story, and loads of followers imagine him.
A conclusion: “Getting kicked from the Overwatch League was unironically the perfect factor to ever occur in your life, so who cares both means.”
