Félix ‘xQc’ Lengyel, a former Overwatch League player and a prolific streamer on Twitch, said that he received an official notification from YouTube asking him to abstain from streaming on its platform. At a juncture where streaming companies are making efforts to retain their platforms’ top-streamers, YouTube’s decision may have been linked to the “controversial” persona of xQc.
Known for his intense on-stream persona and several controversies, xQc’s personality has resulted in a range of hilarious clips of him boiling over. With 1.5 million followers on Twitch and an average of 22,000 viewers per stream, xQc can be considered a fairly popular streamer.
From being an Overwatch league player to an entertaining streamer, xQc had transformed himself quite significantly.
Tough regulations, censorship, sudden restrictions and bans imposed by streaming companies have forced streamers to diversify their body of work. In this connection, xQc said that he may never switch to YouTube for streaming.
“YouTube has specifically asked me – I got a letter in the mail that said do not stream on YouTube,” said xQc during a stream on September 2nd.
This comes a few weeks after he revealed Twitch considered him a “brand risk” due to his explosive behavior.
As of now, we’re witnessing a huge surge in streamers’ demand with streaming platforms strategically acquiring top-performing streamers to migrate to their platform.
For instance, a streamer known as Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins had recently transferred to Microsoft-owned Seattle-based streaming platform known as Mixer. It was revealed that Blevins had received a multi-million dollar deal from Microsoft for making the move.
Streamer-acquisitions such as this highlight the importance of popular streamers and how they can influence the viewership and popularity of a certain streaming platform.
YouTube Gaming isn’t any giant in the realm of streaming; a recent report from January 2019 revealed that Google’s subsidiary had 22,000 streamers using its platform, compared to a whopping 63,700 streamers using Twitch.
Moreover, YouTube’s streaming market seems to be more mobile-gaming focused, unlike Twitch or Mixer. While YouTube has clearly asked a popular and prolific streamer to stay away from its platform, other platforms such as Mixer or Caffeine may welcome xQc with open arms.
