Ex-Overwatch professional turned full-time Twitch streamer Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel has explained why he “feels bad” for legitimate Valorant content creators, as debate about closed beta drops continues.
Despite the acclaim with which Valorant’s closed beta has been received, some community members have criticized the way in which beta drops are distributed; by watching Twitch streams of Valorant.
A host of prominent content creators, including summit1g and DrLupo, have slammed Twitch streamers who are pretending to be live in order to bait viewers into their streams. Some streamers have realized that setting old VODs to live gives the impression they are live-streaming, even if they are simply replaying an old stream.
On April 27, xQc appeared to side with both Lupo and summit, tweeting his sympathy for legitimate Valorant content creators. Many Valorant streamers are grinding the game as much as possible, but are struggling for viewers as a result of the abundance of fake streams.
“I rarely make Twitch meta tweets,” xQc said, “but I actually feel bad for people making organic and genuine content for Valorant, completely buried under all the drop-rats farming bots.”
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It is not only streamers trying to manipulate the system, but a number of viewers appear to be ‘botting’ streams in efforts to enhance their chances of getting a beta drop.
I rarely make twitch meta tweets but I actually feel bad for people making organic and genuine content for valorant, completely burried under all the droprats farming bots like it’s wow gold. The directory is in such a sorry state it looks like a scam site.
— xQc (@xQc) April 27, 2020
“The [Twitch] directory is in such a sorry state, it looks like a scam site,” he finished. Here, xQc echoed some of summit’s complaints directly – that Valorant is undermining its own standing on Twitch because of the number of fake streams and viewers.
Riot have provided multiple updates relating to the streaming situation, including measures they are taking to try to reduce fake streamers and viewers. Regardless, many community members argue it remains a problem as the Valorant beta approaches a month old.