Former professional Overwatch player xQc seems pleased about the chance to play Overwatch Rush, the upcoming mobile game adaptation of the hero shooter, but he's also showing concern about just how much replay value it will have among fans. While a new take on the classic Overwatch formula that gamers can play on their phones is an interesting concept, the famous streamer also doesn't seem to have too much confidence in how long it will be able to maintain a high degree of popularity.
XQc, whose real name is Felix Lengyel, is among the most popular streamers on Twitch, with more than 12 million followers and a single-stream record viewer count that exceeds 330,000. But in the earliest years of his streaming career, he also doubled up as a professional Overwatch player, starting out in smaller tournaments and eventually reaching the finals of the 2017 Overwatch World Cup while representing Team Canada, before returning to the national team the following two years.
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xQc is Unsure About Overwatch Rush's Future
In his most recent stream, which lasted for close to 10 hours on February 24, one of the topics xQc addressed was the announcement of Overwatch Rush, an upcoming top-down version of the hero shooter being made specifically for play on Android and Apple mobile devices. Reacting to early gameplay footage released by Blizzard Entertainment, xQc initially responded positively, commenting, "Chat, this actually looks kinda decent, though." His comments were relatively sparse during the nearly two and a half minute-long segment, as he spent the majority of it just observing the on-screen gameplay of the 4v4 match, but he was left with a relatively optimistic impression, saying it didn't "look bad."
However, his reactions weren't entirely without concern, as the potential for Overwatch Rush's ability to hold players' interest over time is seemingly a key factor in his mind. "It doesn't look too bad to play for a few games, but I don’t know if it’s very replayable, you know what I mean?” He questioned. Overwatch Rush looks as though it will incorporate several of the same key components of the classic hero shooter, but it will also feature some major differences, including the switch from FPS to top-down presentation and the implementation of touch screen controls. XQc seemed pensive about how players will react to those changes, and he also burst out in laughter reading through his live comments after one commenter made comparisons of Overwatch Rush to a mobile MOBA game.
The selection of classic fan-favorite Overwatch heroes included in the early gameplay footage, however, gave reason for xQc to celebrate. The team of Reinhardt, Mercy, Tracer, and Soldier 76 were featured in the video, which xQc interpreted as a "restart of removing heroes, but yo, I'm all for that." He laid some heavy criticisms on some of the later heroes added to Overwatch since its early days, taking particular aim at support hero Brigitte, who joined the roster in 2018, offering the opinion that her presence "ruined the game."
There's still plenty of time for xQc and other fans of Overwatch to form opinions about Overwatch Rush, as it's still in the early development stages and does not yet have an official release window. However, the recent release of Overwatch's Reign of Talon Season 1 and the introduction of five new heroes has been accompanied by a surge in popularity, and Blizzard is likely hoping that its hot streak will only be bolstered once Overwatch Rush eventually makes its way into players' hands.
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