xQc Breaks His Silence On Streamer Awards Loss

Streamer xQc has had a storied Twitch history, with many bans under his belt. Even so, the streamer remains popular with fans. While he's participated in controversial things, like gambling streams, he's also showed his character by standing up to NFTs, shutting down a $1.2 million deal in early 2022. Now that The Streamer Awards have come and gone, viewers know that xQc did not win Streamer of the Year. However, that doesn't mean that he wasn't an excellent nomination, or that he doesn't have feelings about the loss.

When it came time for The Streamer Awards to select candidates for its Streamer of the Year award, xQc was a natural candidate. He even garnered some support from the gaming community. Pokimane said that xQc was definitely Streamer of the Year material, even though she initially found him intimidating. Poki explained to her followers that even though other streamers were having great years — like Mizkif and Ludwig — xQc was in a different category completely, providing a different type of content that few others could compete with. Sadly, xQc didn't win the award, and was forced to break his silence on the loss, revealing his feelings to his viewers.

xQc addressed the loss on a recent stream, shortly after going live. He pulled up a clip of The Streamer Awards, showing Ludwig winning the coveted title. xQc then paused to explain that people had asked him all night if he was nervous to deliver a speech when he won. He admitted that he didn't have a speech because the winner was "obvious."

Even though xQc seemed incredulous that others didn't expect Ludwig to win the award, he took a moment to break down the details for viewers. Putting a hand to his head, xQc said, "Let me explain," and launched into his theory on why he didn't win Streamer of the Year.

xQc said that in 2016 he convinced his followers to vote for him to win an MVP award. He tweeted about the award and asked viewers to vote for him, and of course they did. After he won, people got mad about the win, claiming that he didn't deserve it. xQc said that the victory ultimately felt "hollow," and that he voted to himself to never ask fans to vote for him again. "I didn't want to skew the votes to make it popular," he said.

Ultimately, the streamer didn't motivate his followers to vote for him, and so he didn't win the award. He seemed to express genuine regret about other opportunities when he used his fanbase to bag an accolade, and noted that he's grown since his early streaming days. Now, xQc longs for awards that he earns on his own merits. He also noted that he's been spurned by awards shows in the past, and if he'd won an award in previous years, he might've just thrown some folks under the bus on his way to the top.

"If I was going to make a speech back then," xQc explained. "I would've thrown everybody under the bus. I'm not kidding." xQc said that The Streamer Awards was an "in-house event with popularity voting," meaning that fans got to determine who won and who lost. Ostensibly, the streamer with the biggest, most dedicated fanbase would be able to secure the award for themselves by organizing their viewers to vote for them, but xQc doesn't see that as a fair win. Instead, xQc said he'd want to win awards that are based solely on merit, or are handed out by organizations that don't rely on fan votes. However, these are the exact people xQc would've outed in his speech.

"You know what's not a popularity vote? ... Mainstream ... events, man," xQc yelled. He said that shows like The Game Awards have treated him like a "ghost" in the past, refusing to acknowledge his accomplishments. Until big time awards shows acknowledge him, he doesn't want to use his fans to win things like The Streamer Awards. xQc suspected that larger awards shows didn't want to nominate him because advertisers might not be enthused about his presence at the event.

Notably, Dream won The Game Awards' Content Creator of the Year, though his win was controversial. xQc was not nominated. It's unclear why major award ceremonies have passed over xQc in the past, or if they'll continue to do so in the future. For now, xQc is sticking to his principles and refusing to mobilize his fanbase in order to get ahead.