xQc’s “No Russian” reaction is already his most viewed Twitch clip ever
Twitch: xQc / Call of DutyFormer Overwatch pro Felix ‘xQc‘ Lengyel has gone viral after streaming his playthrough of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s campaign, specifically the ever-controversial ‘No Russian’ mission.
Released in 2009, much press surrounding MW2 focused on one campaign mission, where the players (could, if they opted not to skip it) participate in a mass shooting at a Moscow airport.
Within the story, the character was undercover, and ‘forced’ to take part to prove their allegiance to the terrorist Makarov. But, the existence of such a mission was still unsurprisingly the focus of much media ire, having a player directly perpetrate a mass shooting.
“No Russian” was edited in Germany and Japan, so that players would fail if they shot the civilians.The game did allow players to skip the mission, and even many who played it still squirm at the thought. Innocents are mowed down indiscriminately amid their screams, and ‘realistic’ depictions of injured civilians leave blood trails as they scramble for cover.
Many will wince as the mission first begins, or try (in vain) to turn on their terrorist comrades, but when popular streamer xQc reached the infamous level, he barely flinched.
The moment was bound to be clipped and shared no matter how he played it out, but Lengyel’s nonchalant reaction came as a surprise to many.
The clip is aptly named “no hesitation”, showing xQc calmly explain, “oh, I’ve seen this before” as the massacre ensues. “Jesus christ” he exclaims as the terrorists begin to move forward with their attack.
xQc goes viral with ‘No Russian’ clip
It didn’t take long for the stream moment to be shared on social media and Reddit, and within 16 hours the Twitch clip had amassed over 1 million views. Already on track to hit the top 10 most watched Twitch clips ever, xQc only needs another 600,000 views to do so.
Remarkably it’s already xQc’s most watched clip of all time, despite being on the platform for over two years, proving that No Russian’s shock value is still effective, even a decade on.
The next Modern Warfare game was announced on May 30.New ‘Modern Warfare’ game inspired by No Russian
It’s been confirmed by Infinity Ward that they hope to replicate the visceral, emotional reaction prompted by missions like No Russian in their upcoming Modern Warfare game.
Campaign director Jacob Minkoff even said the heavy nature of the story had left playtesters in tears, and is said to be the most “controversial” in the series’ history, according to YouTubers who saw an early preview.
xQc will presumably be moving on to the third entry in the MW franchise next on his Twitch channel, in anticipation of the October 25 release of the fourth game in the series.