Former professional Overwatch League player Félix “xQc” Lengyel took to Twitter today criticizing the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) community for outspoken members boasting of their future career in Valorant. Amid Riot Games’ latest press release about the game, community members are expressing their opinions, both positive and negative.
Valorant is a 5v5 strategy-based FPS in which attackers and defenders battle it out to either destroy or save a site. The underlying premise of the game is the same as that of CSGO and other search-and-destroy (S&D) titles. Coupled with usable abilities such as shields and resurrection, FPS enthusiasts have noticed the apparent influence of Overwatch and CSGO within the game’s mechanics and structure. The similarities have drawn the attention of professional players from both communities, stating they’re planning on transitioning from their current game to Valorant upon its release. For instance, CSGO player Braxton “swag” Pierce announced his retirement from CSGO to focus on performing in Valorant.
I am no longer with Swole Patrol. I have decided to take a step back from competitive CS and although I may still stream CS in the future, my main goal is to await the release of Project A and put my ambitions of being the best in the world to fruition.
— Brax (@brax1wnl) February 28, 2020
XQc’s tweet earlier today fired shots directly at players like swag who are planning to play the unreleased Riot FPS professionally.
HOT TAKE: ALL THE WASHED UP CSGO "PROS" WILL TRY TO GO PRO IN VALORANT LIKE THEY DID IN OVERWATCH THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT REZ, SHIELDS AND THAT THE GAME REVOLVES AROUND MORE THAN SIMPLY SHOOTING A GUN AND ULTIMATELY QUIT.
— xQc (@xQc) March 3, 2020
While it’s right to say the CSGO community is looking forward to playing Valorant and, due to the game’s innate competitive potential, will attempt to excel at it — so are other communities. XQc’s comments are geared towards a community whose competitive history and structure he has little involvement with. Furthermore, the majority of his engagement with CSGO stems from his stream where he is, ever so often, seen interviewing matchmaking teammates in Gold Nova 3.
Trainwreckstv rebutted xQc
His tweet garnered backlash from his followers and the gaming community. Popular Twitch streamer Tyler “Trainwreckstv” Niknam, who’s become a beloved CSGO community member, replied to xQc.
why is it that the OW community is trying so hard to build a certain narrative SPECIFICALLY against csgo, it's almost like you guys know other games arent competition & csgo is all that's left to absorb but the cartoony nature of valorant won't be enough to do it, seems weird
— Trainwreck (@Trainwreckstv) March 3, 2020
Trainwreck’s sentiment addresses the notion that some in the Overwatch community have a habit of belittling CSGO‘s competitive system. He alludes to the idea circulating since Valorant‘s initial announcement that Riot’s game is a direct competitor to CSGO and will eventually be the game’s downfall. However, while the similarities between Valorant and CSGO are obvious, CSGO‘s iconic gameplay, mechanics, and long-standing competitive past have cemented its position in gaming history. Moreover, Valorant‘s class-based elements are more than enough to differentiate the two games altogether.
XQc has a history of posting “hot takes,” creating drama, and inserting himself into precarious situations. It’ll be interesting to see how his comments play out.
Valorant will release in most global regions on PC in summer 2020.
