The 2024 Esports Awards have ruffled feathers across the streaming world — but xQc’s opinion on the matter has stirred up a massive debate among his viewers.
Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel is one of the most prominent streamers on the net. Boasting a combined 12.7 million followers across both Twitch and Kick, he’s been broadcasting for nearly a decade.
That’s why, when the Esports Awards crowned Rivers, a Twitch streamer with 6 million followers, above him and other big names like Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed, the internet went into a bit of a frenzy.
Plenty of viewers were left outraged that Speed and Kai, in particular, weren’t crowned the victors, given the extremely successful year they’ve had thus far… but xQc isn’t buying that argument from fans.
During an August broadcast after the Awards, Lengyel explained why he isn’t a proponent of streamers’ follow counts determining whether or not they should win a trophy. In fact, he said that if this were the case, he’d have won the Award four years in a row.
“It’s not a new thing, that things are biased and off, or whatever,” he said.
“People try to use mathematics and analytics like, ‘Oh, this streamer’s bigger, so they should have won it.’ If that’s what we were judging people on, then I would have won four years in a row before last year. Literally. That is not cope. That is mathematics. Not even by a little bit, by a margin of 2.5 – 3x.”
xQc isn’t the first streamer to mention ‘bias’ regarding the latest Esports Awards. Fellow broadcaster Asmongold also argued that the streamer only won the accolade because she’s a woman.
“They put her up there, because she’s a female,” Asmon said. “It’s embarrassing,” Asmongold continued. “It’s patronizing. It’s not even the top female streamer, either. It’s bullsh*t. It’s not even close.”
However, it’s worth noting that the Streamer of the Year award was based on fan votes. With over 5 million followers on Twitter, Rivers’ dedicated viewers showed out en masse to bring her to the forefront of the runnings.
Although many netizens believe Rivers’ win was based on factors of bias, it was her own fans who were responsible for her victory at the Esports Awards — a win that she says is “for her community.”