"I was embarrassed": xQc explains why he ghosted Valorant team

Olivia Richman Published 06/04/2023

As more and more content creators buy Valorant teams, it has come to light that Felix “xQc” Lengyel may have ghosted a pro team that he almost acquired, Turtle Troop. Now, xQc has responded to the backlash he has received for this entire situation.

Ludwig Ahgren recently became co-owner of Moist Esports, followed by Jeremy “DisguisedToast” Wang purchasing an all-female Valorant team — just to fire them days later for performing as poorly as expected. As the esports landscape continues to shift, streamers like xQc have also started talks with teams. But it looks like a recent discussion didn’t go as planned.

A report by George Geddes revealed that xQc had essentially ghosted Turtle Troop, a pro Valorant team that had been in talks with the streamer to be sponsored by him directly. One of the players went on stream yesterday to claim that xQc had stopped all talking with the players after they had signed a term sheet and everything. xQc had allegedly “backed out last second.”

xQc responds to backlash over ghosting Turtle Troop

In a recent livestream, xQc went into detail about the entire situation with Turtle Troop. According to the Juicer, he actually did ghost the Valorant team and apologized for his lack of communication. He paid them a high salary to make up for the “time they lost” while waiting for him to make a decision.

xQc explained that he let his managers work on the numbers and finances, then come back to him with a “hard warning,” but nothing was ever brought to him to be signed. It seemed like xQc was too distracted with a lot of other issues, including spending, and lost track of what was happening.

“There was just a lot happening, and I just kind of got blindsided, and I was embarrassed… At the end, I understand that in that [amount] of time, I definitely should’ve communicated more,” xQc lamented.

As xQc went into detail, it seemed like he wasn’t able to come up with a good plan with Turtle Troop. It sounded like xQc wanted to split up the roster, buying out “extremely talented players” to create a “super team.” Turtle Troop allegedly turned down this idea, hoping to remain together.

Unfortunately, this created a stalemate between xQc and Turtle Troop. But the streamer ended up backing out of the situation without a lot of communication. To make up for the time the team left waiting, he gave them $25,000, expressing guilt for not being more straightforward about the entire situation.

It’s unclear if xQc is still trying to get into Valorant or another esport title. The streamer has a background in the Overwatch League but didn’t seem to enjoy his time as a pro gamer.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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