There’s been a lot of discussion among streamers following the VALORANT beta release about access to the game that fans can only receive by watching Twitch, but Dr Disrespect is having an entirely different discussion himself.
Not only is the two-time unphased by streamers who are rebroadcasting themselves and inappropriately labeling it as “live,” but he has started questioning why people are watching any VALORANT at all.
Shortly after all streamers were given access to VALORANT drops for their channel, a few channels started streaming 24/7, but the actual content creators themselves weren’t playing for the full time. Instead they would rebroadcast a VOD from a previous stream.
The only issue with the rebroadcast was that instead of airing it as a “rerun” streamers were posting it and advertising it on their channel as though it was live. This irritated many content creators like Summit1g and xQc who are known for putting in massive amounts of airtime on their channels that is all truly live content.
Asked about the issue on his stream, Dr Disrespect didn’t seem to care too much about people trying to farm viewers without actually streaming. His belief is that anyone watching the channel isn’t really there to watch gameplay. They’re just watching to increase their odds of getting a VALORANT beta drop.
“Hey, Summit, xQc, Let them stream 24/7,” he said. “Let em. Ain’t nobody watching the game.”
He went on to address what this means for those content creators. While some 24/7 streamers are getting subscribers for their reruns, Disrespect, who is known for acute attention to detail when it comes to marketing, knows those people aren’t making a lasting impression on the ecosystem.
“Are they building anything legendary out for their careers?” he said. “No they’re not. That’s the way I look at it.”
Furthermore, Disrespect asked his viewers why this entire controversy is a topic of discussion. He believes that there’s a much bigger question we should be asking ourselves about VALORANT as a personality-driven form of gaming content on Twitch.
“I’ve got to say something about it,” he said. “What everyone is missing here, the big problem, the big issue I have (is) why are people still watching VALORANT.”
Disrespect was one of the first top streamers to express his distaste for VALORANT as a streamable game. He quickly compared its viewability to that of Overwatch, and said that because of all of the game’s abilities, too many things are going on during a game.
The bright lights and colors flashing on the screen can make the game difficult to follow at times, and though the game can be fun to play, Disrespect isn’t sure that it has a long-term future.
That being said, his disapproval of the game as a form of content has led him to play the game significantly less than many other streamers. Since the beta’s release, Doc has only played the game for 36 hours with an average of 27,251 viewers according to Sullygnome.com. In the past month, he has played Warzone for 74 hours with a notably higher average viewership above 30,000.
