xQc

Félix ‘xQc’ Lengyel, widely known as xQc (formerly xQcOW) is one of the most popular streamers on Twitch. He started his career in 2016 and has been in the spotlight in the esports world for various reasons, not just because of his gaming skills. He is a former professional Overwatch player.

About xQc

Introduction

Félix ‘xQc’ Lengyel, widely known as xQc (formerly xQcOW) is one of the most popular streamers on Twitch. He started his career in 2016 and has been in the spotlight in the esports world for various reasons, not just because of his gaming skills. He is a former professional Overwatch player. From his thrilling esports journey to transforming into one of Twitch's most influential content creators, xQc has done it all. He currently streams on purple platform’s rival, Kick. He has amassed over 16 million followers across social media platforms. Pro streamer has 478K followers on Kick, 11.9M
followers on Twitch, 510K followers on Instagram, 1.5M followers on Twitter and 2.32M subscribers on YouTube.

Early Life and family background

During his early life, xQc, whose real name is Félix Lengyel, grew up with his brother, Nicholas Lengyel, in shared custody. According to sources, xQc’s parents divorced when he was just one-year-old. However, the specific reason for their separation is not known. Although Félix has mentioned his father several times during his streams, and there was a period when he lived with his father and brother, he chose not to disclose any information about his mother or her relationship with him and his family. xQc’s brother also streams occasionally. While Nicholas has not been extensively involved in Felix's streaming career, he has made occasional appearances on xQc's streams. Despite their limited involvement in the streaming world, Felix and Nicholas share a close bond. Felix recently moved to Canada to live with his brother, showcasing the strength of their relationship. Félix shared that he had to relocate due to some family issues at Nicholas' place, but despite that, they remain supportive of each other. Nicholas may not be as prominent in the gaming world, but he has played a significant role in supporting Félix's life and career.

Education

Since childhood, xQc has had an adventurous nature and developed interests in activities like skateboarding, snowboarding, trampolining, and playing video games. After completing secondary school, he enrolled in college and initially pursued studies in humanities at Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP). Later, he switched his major to administration. However, after studying for 3.5 years, he decided to drop out of college as he felt that formal education was not the path he wanted to pursue.

Rise to fame

In 2014, when he was 19 years old, xQc started broadcasting on Twitch, a well-known streaming website, where he had previously played League of Legends (LoL) under the alias xQcLoL. His first name's last letter, "x," was joined with the initials of his native province of Quebec, "QC," to form the moniker "xQc." In 2015, he created his YouTube channel, where he still uploads his gameplay and his daily vlogs mostly. As his streaming career expanded, in 2016, xQc mostly rose to fame and notoriety because of his work on the Blizzard Entertainment video game Overwatch. He even changed his identity to xQcOW to show his affiliation with Overwatch.

When xQc first started playing video games, he was a major tank for the 'Overwatch' squad Q? Later, "Denial eSports" took his squad under their wing, and five months later, he competed in his first event at "Rivalcade Weekly #3 North America." Before the group broke up, xQc and 'Denial eSports' won two titles. His squad was nicknamed 'YIKES!' and eventually 'Arc 6.' The squad suffered a severe setback as xQc and his team were eliminated during the group round of "Overwatch Contenders 2017: Season Zero." Just before the start of the first season of the Overwatch League, this ultimately led to the dissolution of "Arc 6." xQc’s gaming appeal is unwavering, and he continues to attract a sizable and devoted following across a range of content categories.

Streaming career

He represents the esports team "Los Angeles Gladiators" as a stand-in main tank and predominantly plays "Overwatch." He began his professional gaming career in the first part of the inaugural season of the Overwatch League, playing as the main tank for the team Dallas Fuel.

xQc rose to the top of the 'Overwatch' lineup in the succeeding seasons. His gaming career has, however, been marred by a number of incidents that have resulted in suspensions and fines. xQc once declared his intention to leave the world of competitive gaming and devote all of his time to streaming on "Twitch." He has now started back up his professional gaming career, though. Though he is well known for his broadcasting work, xQc first rose to prominence as a skilled Overwatch player. In 2016, he began playing esports, and he also began routinely broadcasting. In the latter part of 2017, he joined the Dallas Fuel, a group participating in the Overwatch League's first season.

Esports streaming

xQc started his professional Overwatch esports career by originally taking part in lesser online competitions as a tank player for groups like DatZit Gaming. He was hired by Denial Esports, a well-known multi-game esports company, in October 2016. But after a short while, Denial split up, prompting xQc and his former colleagues to create their own lineup under the moniker Yikes, which subsequently changed to Arc 6. During their time there, the squad took part in Overwatch Contenders Season Zero, where xQc's competitiveness seemed to reach abnormal heights. He admitted that he put gaming before essentials like rest, nourishment, and interpersonal connections and that he would spend all of his time playing rated matches to boost his confidence after poor results.

Additionally, xQc got the chance to compete for Team Canada in the 2017 Overwatch World Cup. Before finally losing to the tournament's defending winners, South Korea, the squad advanced to the championship round. xQc was recognized as the competition's most valuable player despite the defeat. xQc joined the Dallas Fuel in October 2017, one of the teams playing in the Overwatch League's (OWL) first season. But Blizzard imposed two suspensions on his personal Overwatch account before the season began. In November, a 72-hour suspension was imposed as punishment for abusing the game's reporting mechanism. He threw games on stream, which led to the second suspension, a seven-day penalty in December.

xQc continues to be active in the Overwatch community by joining numerous teams throughout time. He joined the GOATS and Gladiators Legion Overwatch Contenders teams. He has participated in the 2018 and 2019 Overwatch World Cups as a member of Team Canada.

Return to full-time streaming

2018 saw xQc break away with Dallas Fuel, and he turned his attention entirely to his streaming business. He became a content developer for the esports company Sentinels in February 2019. By May 2019, xQc had become one of the most well-known variety broadcasters on Twitch and had achieved notable success. But, xQc has had to deal with some controversy throughout his streaming career. He was given a three-day suspension from Twitch in July 2019 for broadcasting a video with short sexual content, especially one that included a penis. Even though a Twitch staffer is said to have approved the video, the restriction was upheld.

But xQc's suspension was revoked after just one day. In spite of these instances, xQc made significant strides on Twitch. He overtook other well-known channels by a wide margin in December 2019 and became Twitch's most viewed streamer, garnering approximately eight million hours of watch time. In all, he racked up about 54 million hours of watch time, placing him sixth among all streamers for the year. More than 14% of that time came from just one month, December. During the course of his streaming career in 2020, xQc encountered several suspensions and disputes. He was given a three-day suspension from Twitch on February 29 for streaming pornographic material while playing Strip 4: Classmate Study. The game's nudity was uncensored when xQc added the code, briefly exposing the female character's breasts.

Even after his appeal, Twitch sustained the restriction, and the game acquired notoriety by topping Steam's "new and trending" list. xQc began playing chess on his stream in March 2020, and in April he began receiving coaching from Hikaru Nakamura, a grandmaster in the game. The first PogChamps chess competition was organized by Twitch and Chess.com and ran from June 5 to June 19. The tournament participant xQc lost to Charlie "MoistCr1TiKaL" White in a game after only six moves. By May 2021, the match had amassed over 10 million views on Chess.com's YouTube channel, making it the most popular video. xQc competed in the PogChamps event and advanced to the semifinals of the consolation bracket before falling to Ludwig Ahgren.

xQc’s streaming name

xQc’s streaming name seems to be thoughtfully derived. It’s a blend of his first name Felix’s last letter ‘x’ and ‘Qc’, abbreviation of his home province, Quebec.

Net Worth 2023

As of 2023, xQc's estimated net worth was around $20-25 million, primarily from his earnings on Twitch and YouTube through streaming.
However, things changed significantly when he signed a non-exclusive contract with Kick on the same date, which was worth a staggering $100 million. This deal catapulted his net worth to nearly $120 million, making him the richest streamer in the industry.Before the Kick deal, he held the 5th position in terms of net worth among streamers, but with this new contract, he surpassed Ninja and claimed the top spot as the wealthiest streamer in the world.

xQc's wealth mostly comes from his successful gaming career, money earned from streaming, competing in tournaments and sponsorship. On Twitch, he usually has around 70,000 viewers on average during his broadcasts, which means he earns approximately $300,000 each month from Twitch alone. On YouTube, he has over 2.22 million subscribers and earns around $700,000 per year from brand deals and monthly subscriptions.

xQc’s assets

xQc, who lives in Quebec, owns a very beautiful house there. He also owns many properties in Canada, which includes his chic house in Toronto, which he recently purchased.

xQc’s car collection

xQc is a proud owner of 3 luxurious cars, including Tesla Model 3, BMW X6 M, and McLaren 720s Spider. Despite owning high-tech cars, the streamer chooses to rely on public transportation due to his fear of driving and the sense of security he finds in it. He has finally got his driver's license now.

Relationships

Over the years, xQc's relationships have faced ridicule and disrespect from some of his followers, which has led him to become more private about his personal life. His long-term relationship with fellow Twitch streamer Adept and his brief relationship with Nyxxii have been subjects of mockery.
Earlier this year, he got into a relationship with another streamer named Fran, which was also under scrutiny and met with negativity from some of the trolls of the streaming community. The situation reached a boiling point recently when xQc addressed the toxicity in his Twitch chat during a live stream on July 3rd. He expressed his frustration with his fans' negative comments about his relationship with Fran, highlighting their lack of empathy and respect for his personal life.
In response to the criticism and negativity surrounding his relationships, xQc has chosen to keep his personal life more private, seeking to protect himself and his loved ones from the undue scrutiny and judgment of the public.“And I met her before all this s**t too. It’s just odd, I don’t know. And, it was the same thing with my previous relationships too…” He further expressed his disappointment with his fans’ behavior, stating, “It’s like everything that isn’t a fcking disaster in my life, everything that isn’t like actually fcking killing me…it’s like, you attack the fck out of it until I get rid of it.”

xQc and Fran recently parted ways. The streamer addressed the issue by saying, "That one time I said, like, Fran wasn't here anymore, and I hadn't talked to Fran about it. So she kind of got caught off-guard. She tried to keep the facade up, but me and her aren't together for a while now." xQc explained his decision to end the relationship on a mutual agreement, stating, "Things are just not favorable for anything right now. It's just bad, and it's like a mutual thing. It's a good thing. Everybody's chill and on board."

Is xQc married to Adept?

The relationship between xQc and Adept has been the subject of public attention for several years. They had a highly publicized breakup in September 2022, which played out live on Twitch and involved weeks of bickering and drama. In January 2023, during one of xQc's streams, Adept showed up at his house and accused him of violating court law. This led to speculation that they might have been married and going through a divorce. People dug into public records and found an ongoing divorce case (Case number: 22-3153-FC1) between them, referring to them as a married couple seeking divorce. The court documents, including a temporary restraining order, appeared legitimate and were filed on November 14, 2022, shortly after their public breakup. However, when xQc addressed the issue during his stream on January 8, 2023, he denied being married and stated, "I am not married. I was never married." Despite the public records suggesting a divorce case, xQc maintains that they were not married. The situation remains somewhat unclear and continues to be a topic of interest among their followers and the public.

Achievements

In December 2019, xQc became the most-watched streamer on Twitch, racking up over eight million hours of viewing time

In 2020 and 2021, xQc was the most-watched streamer on Twitch

Awards and nominations

Controversies

xQc has been involved in numerous controversies and scandals, which surprisingly haven't negatively impacted his popularity. He seems to thrive in these situations, and his fan base keeps growing, even though he has faced several incidents in a relatively short time. He is known for being very outspoken, often starting his streams by discussing trending news topics and reacting to them in front of his large audience.

xQc’s streaming bans

xQc has faced multiple bans on Twitch throughout his streaming career. The reasons for these bans have often been related to controversial content. 

In November 2017, xQc had his first 72-hour suspension for misusing the in-game reporting system

In December 2017, he was handed a week’s suspension over a ‘Blizzard’ misconduct

He was suspended by the ‘Overwatch League’ over homophobic remarks against ‘Outlaws’ player Muma. He was also fine $2K

In March 2018, xQc was barred from four games and fined for making a racist comment against a player through 'Twitch' emote 'TriHard 7' on the official 'Overwatch League' stream 

In August 2018, he was again banned -- this time for using abusive language multiple times during chats. His 15-day suspension was lifted before Canada’s 'Overwatch World Cup' campaign 

In July 2019, he received a 72-hour ban for briefly showing a pornographic image during one of his streams

In February 2020, he was banned again for three days after accidentally displaying a nude non-playable character (NPC) in a game he was playing

In June 2020, he faced another ban for streaming a clip of gorillas mating, which was considered inappropriate content

In November 2020, xQc faced another ban on Twitch due to a stream-sniping incident involving DrLupo during the Twitch Rivals event. Stream-sniping is taken seriously by Twitch, especially in official tournaments, and as a result, he received a significant seven-day ban for this violation

In 2021, xQc was banned once for streaming the Tokyo Olympics without permission

Later in the same year, he received another ban, but the exact reasons for this ban were not publicly disclosed

In 2023, the popular streamer Felix 'xQc' Lengyel faced a close call with a potential ban on the new streaming platform, Kick. This incident occurred shortly after he signed a massive $70,000,000 deal with the platform. The details surrounding the near ban were not specified, but it highlights the ongoing challenges and controversies that can arise in the world of content creation, even for prominent streamers like xQc

Trihard 7

During his time as an Overwatch player, xQc faced a major controversy that significantly impacted his career. He contributed to the downfall of his own ‘Overwatch’ career by using inappropriate emotes and making offensive comments. One particular incident involved his use of the 'TriHard' emote in a racially disparaging manner, which led to a massive and ongoing debate. The use of this emote was a breaking point, and xQc faced consequences for it. He received fines for other offenses, such as account sharing, sharing offensive memes, and making racist and homophobic remarks. While those close to him claim he is not actually racist or homophobic, he is known for speaking without a filter and being impulsive with his words. xQc has been described as tone-deaf and impulsive when it comes to what he says, which has landed him in various controversies throughout his career. After that, he was released from 'Dallas Fuel,' and began focusing on full-time 'Twitch' streaming full-time

Streaming TV Shows

At the beginning of 2022, Twitch issued warnings to xQc regarding his habit of streaming television shows on the platform, threatening a potential ban. However, no ban was actually implemented, and xQc seemed to brush off the warnings, taking them lightly. Despite not facing a Twitch ban in 2023, xQc has been outspoken about bans that other fellow streamers have received. He has criticized Twitch's perceived leniency towards some streamers, such as Kai Cenet, and he has also expressed his disapproval of gambling-related bans on the platform. xQc is known for speaking his mind and sharing his opinions on various Twitch-related matters.

xQc banned on Nopixel GTA Server

xQc has experienced tremendous success with his streams in the world of GTA RP, particularly on the NoPixel server, which is a popular GTA V roleplaying server. However, his popularity has been accompanied by a reputation for not being a "good sport" in RP. He has been known to break the rules and disrupt the fun for other players during his sessions.While he often talks about the RP aspects, he tends to cause chaos and havoc on the server he's playing on. As a result of his actions, he received five consecutive bans, with the final one being a permanent ban. Despite bringing significant exposure to the NoPixel platform through his streams, the trouble he caused outweighed the benefits. The ongoing toxicity, rule-breaking, and general nuisance led to his permanent ban from NoPixel.

xQc gambling controversy

xQc has been involved in a significant gambling controversy. He has spent a considerable amount of time on-stream gambling and playing slots, often betting millions of dollars in front of his live audience.The concerning issue is that many of xQc's followers are young and impressionable, and they may be influenced by their favorite Twitch streamer's gambling habits. In May 2022, xQc's viewers wagered a staggering $119 million using his exclusive code on a betting platform. This has raised alarm among industry figures who believe that he is fueling a dangerous trend and influencing a generation of gamblers.In the same month, xQc openly admitted that he was addicted to gambling after losing more than $2 million in a single month. This has sparked concerns among his fans, with some expressing opposition to his on-stream portrayal of gambling. His streams featuring slots have even reached the highest and most visible trending ranks on Twitch's homepage at times.