xQc mocks aim assist players in Apex Legends: “You’re playing half the game”
Twitch: xQcThe never-ending debate of controller vs keyboard and mouse inputs is particularly prevalent in Apex Legends, and streamer xQc has stirred up the two sides again by claiming that using aim assist is only playing “half the game” – with the other half played for you.
The former Overwatch pro has spent a lot of time playing Apex on stream in 2021 and has progressed in his skills rapidly. He’s not exactly up there with the pros or top competitive streamers yet, but can more than hold his own even against tough opposition.
On December 15, xQc was participating in an invitational tournament against lots of streamers and even some professional players, like ImperialHal, knoqd, and Sweet.
Some of the competitors were controller players, and xQc was eliminated in one match by TSM streamer Daltoosh, which prompted xQc to call it “kinda lame,” sparking debate in his chat.
xQc says aim-assist is superhuman
He continued “The problem is it [aim assist] can react faster than a human can, at all times. It starts the tracking for you at superhuman speed, that’s the main problem with it.
Unsurprisingly, this kicked off a bit of a war in chat, as controller players argued that the benefits of aim assist are grossly exaggerated by PC players, just as an excuse for losing a gunfight.
But, xQc snapped back, claiming that with aim assist on, a controller player is only playing half the game.
“You’re playing half the game. You’re letting the computer do half the job for you.”
Apex Legends allows either input to be used in competitive play, although there are restrictions on controllers to prevent cheating with the use of ‘strike packs’ or other modifications.
A number of top competitive players use a controller, most notably Snip3down (now back competing in Halo), although the vast majority of the very best players are keyboard and mouse users, which would suggest controller aim assist does not provide the overwhelming advantage which is often claimed.
However, KBM players argue that any assistance at all given by the computer, rather than human input, is not competitive.