"You can study this and I'd be right about it" - xQc rants about smurfing after being obliterated in Tekken 8

Tekken 8 is an incredibly challenging game, as Felix “xQc” learned in his most recent Twitch stream. The popular Twitch/Kick streamer picked up the game and tried using King online, and while he found success in his first few matches, he quickly came up against a player at the “Strategist” rank, who completely demolished him in a few short minutes.

The streamer seemed visibly frustrated, on the border of crying, while ranting about how many smurfs exist in fighting games. While it wouldn’t stop him from playing more Tekken 8 that evening, he was clear how he felt about it:

“You can study this and I’d be right about it.”

[Timestamp - 2:20]

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xQc complains about a smurfing problem in Tekken 8 in his recent stream

The Tekken 8 player in question, Qualing, was at the “Strategist” ranking, a few ranks higher than xQc’s own “Fighter” rank. While he was able to get started fairly easily against other players, this Panda player immediately comboed the Kick streamer.

In the first round, Felix would at least be able to get some hits in, taking about 25% of the other player’s health. The other player landed another deadly combo, wrapping up the match.

(Clip begins at 2:33:05)

The YouTube clip doesn’t show the second round, but it went much the same as the first, with the Panda player dominating xQc, allowing very little room for counterplay. Things went sour immediately in Round 3, however.

Trapping xQc against the wall, Qualing pummeled the streamer’s King, scoring a perfect in short order. The streamer looked visibly upset by how quickly he was dominated by this other player. After a few moments, the streamer opened up about how he felt:

“I mean, congratulations, it is what it is. See what I find really weird, is I think fighting game players are the most weird, ego players of all time. Literally. They find some sort of ego fulfillment by beating lower ranked players all the time.”

Many competitive games feature smurfs, or players who normally play at a much higher rank but have secondary accounts to compete against lower-tier players. According to xQc though, no game has more of these than the fighting game genre.

“The density of smurfs in fighting games is so high compared to other games it’s crazy. It’s like when they lose, their inner fire is dying, and they have to log into their other account and do f**kin’, smurf way lower. It’s so weird. You can study this, and I’d be right about it. I swear. You can study this with science, and I’d be right about it.”

Tekken 8 is still a fairly new game, only having launched in January 2024. Whether the streamer’s opponent was a smurf is debatable, though. Admittedly, they had a firm grasp of advanced techniques like the “Korean backdash” - a method of movement that lets you repeatedly backdash backward multiple times quickly.

It could also be that xQc, as a King player, did not go for his powerful grabs nearly often enough. No matter the reason, he was swiftly beaten by this other player and felt smurfing was the cause.

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Felix is never shy about opening up about his feelings on a situation, whether it involves him or someone else, as was the case when he discussed the GeorgeNotFound alleged assault controversy.