Felix Lengyel

Early life

Born on November 12, 1995, in Laval, Quebec, Canada, Lengyel was an active and passionate video game enthusiast from an early age. His fascination with gaming started during his childhood, during which he spent numerous hours exploring a wide array of games. He soon developed a particular affinity for competitive gaming, finding an outlet for both his competitive nature and his love for gaming.

When he was 19 years old, Lengyel started broadcasting on Twitch, initially focusing on the game League of Legends (LoL) under the moniker xQcLoL. His alias “xQc” was inspired by the final letter of his given name, “x,” paired with the acronym for his home province of Quebec, “QC”.

As he moved forward in his streaming journey, Lengyel’s fame and notoriety primarily grew from his engagement with Overwatch, a video game created by Blizzard Entertainment. As a result, he adapted his screen name to xQcOW, signifying his strong connection with Overwatch.

Career

Lengyel kicked off his esports journey playing the game Overwatch. He first played for smaller teams like DatZit Gaming, mainly in online tournaments. In October 2016, Denial Esports, a well-known multi-game esports organization, recruited him. However, the team dissolved shortly after. Following that, Lengyel and his former teammates created a team named Yikes, which they later renamed Arc 6. This team competed in the Overwatch Contenders Season Zero. During this period, Lengyel became so invested in gaming that it started affecting his sleep, nutrition, and personal relationships. Despite this, in 2017 he was part of Team Canada in the Overwatch World Cup, where they reached the finals and even though they lost, Lengyel was named the event’s most valuable player.

After leaving Dallas Fuel in 2018, Lengyel decided to primarily concentrate on his career as a streamer. In February 2019, he became a content creator for the esports organization Sentinels. By May of that year, he had established himself as one of the leading variety streamers on Twitch. After his stint in professional eSports, Lengyel transitioned to a full-time career as a Twitch streamer. His energetic and often humorous content resonated with viewers, propelling him to become one of the most popular Twitch streamers worldwide. His streams cover a variety of content, ranging from playthroughs of popular video games to reactions to online content and participation in Twitch-centric events.

Lengyel achieved impressive feats on Twitch. In December 2019, he was the most viewed streamer on the platform, amassing almost eight million hours of viewing time, far outpacing other popular channels. Overall, for that year, he was the sixth most viewed streamer, with close to 54 million hours of viewing time, over 14% of which was accrued in December alone.

In April 2022, Lengyel took part in the r/Place social experiment on Reddit, a communal online space where users could modify the hue of a single pixel.

During this event, he focused his efforts on a piece of My Little Pony artwork, which led to a surge of death threats. He disclosed that in a single hour of that month, he had been subjected to more death threats than he had ever experienced in his prior six years of live streaming.

Despite the backlash, Lengyel smashed his personal best on Twitch, reaching a high of over 293,000 viewers during the activity. Later in the month, he broke this record again while showcasing a beta version of Overwatch 2, peaking at over 312,000 viewers. For the year 2022, he maintained his position as the most-watched Twitch streamer. In January 2023, Lengyel made the decision to leave Luminosity Gaming, signaling the termination of his association with the group. In June 2023, Lengyel was in the news for entering into a substantial contract with the live-streaming platform Kick. Lengyel explained his decision to partner with Kick was driven by the platform’s capability to offer him a range of unique and different opportunities which were not possible on Twitch. This contract, worth $70 million over two years, set up a non-exclusive partnership between Lengyel and Kick.

In addition, the contract encompassed the possibility of performance-related bonuses, amounting to approximately $30 million. The maximum possible payout could be as high as $100 million, making this agreement one of the biggest ever in the entertainment industry. The scale of the deal invited comparisons to prominent sports contracts, like LeBron James’ $97 million, two-year agreement with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Net Worth

As of 2023, Félix Lengyel’s estimated net worth is approximately $4 million. This wealth has been generated predominantly from his career as a Twitch streamer, with income streams including donations, ad revenue, sponsorship deals, and subscription fees from his Twitch channel. His previous career as a professional Overwatch player also contributed to his overall wealth.

Achievement

Over his career, Félix Lengyel has achieved numerous accolades. Some highlights include:

As an "Overwatch" professional player, he has been part of numerous tournament-winning teams, demonstrating his exceptional gaming skills.

He was a significant member of the Dallas Fuel team in the Overwatch League, one of the premier competitive events in the gaming community.

Transitioning from eSports to streaming, he has amassed millions of followers on Twitch, becoming one of the most-watched streamers on the platform.

He was named the 5th most-watched Twitch streamer of 2020, a testament to his popularity among the streaming community.

Despite occasional controversies, he has managed to maintain his position as a top streamer on Twitch, constantly pulling in high viewer numbers.

Beyond Twitch, he has also successfully built a substantial following on other social media platforms like Twitter and YouTube, extending his influence in the gaming community.

Social Profile

On Twitch, where he live-streams most frequently, you can find him under the username "xQcOW" (https://www.twitch.tv/xqcow).

On Twitter, where he shares his thoughts and interacts with his fan base, he uses the handle "@xQc" (https://twitter.com/xQc).

He also has a substantial following on YouTube, where he posts highlights from his streams and other video content. His YouTube channel is "xQcOW" (https://www.youtube.com/c/xQcOW).