Apex Legends might be holding onto Warzone’s biggest names for a bit longer: Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolsheff is “f**king addicted” to the Respawn-developed battle royale, and doesn’t plan on stopping his Twitch streams any time soon.
Apex Legends has claimed some major scalps off the back of its Season 10 launch, at least in the streaming department.
Some of the biggest names from other titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty have jumped over to the Outlands. However, none come bigger than NICKMERCS.
The multi-talented Twitch star has been streaming Apex non-stop for two weeks since the season launched. It’s had a great effect on his numbers too, jumping from around 45,000 average viewers to over 55,000.
And, if his addiction is anything to go by, that itch still needs a bit of scratching.
“I’m f**king addicted. I go to drink my smoothie, I think about Apex. I go take a shower, thinking about Apex. I’m laying in bed, watching Apex,” he said on stream.
“I won a game with Clocky and Tom [Cloakzy and Tim] at 3 in the morning last night, got 202 points and over 7 KP, I got off the stream and the first thing I did was watch it back so I could try and understand the sh*t I’m doing well and the sh*t I didn’t do well.”
It’s part of his competitive mentality — something he carried from Gears of War to Halo, Call of Duty, and Fortnite. He wants to just get better, so once the 30-year-old latches onto something, there’s no stopping until he’s at the top.
“I’m f**ked up man. I get like this, it’s who I am,” he said.
Everything I’ve done in my life, nothing compares to what I’m doing right now. I get invested into a game and I have to be good. I have to be great.”
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“The same thing happened in Gears of War, Halo, Call of Duty. Call of Duty I won over 500 online tournaments. It was a grind to get to that point. Gears of War — national champion, cardboard cheque. A grind to get there.
“You guys have been laughing at me getting railed these last couple of weeks. I’ve been getting f**ked.
“[But in Gears of War] I got railed for a year and a half and then I got to eat the cake. This has been about a week, this ain’t sh*t for me. I’m good, that’s my point.”
While there’s more he has to worry about nowadays than just becoming the best — his Twitch community comes first — it’s satisfying for NICKMERCS to sink his teeth into a new challenge and run it back like the old days.
“I know I’m 30 now and I’m older and I don’t have that same pizzazz or fire to be great in everything I play in, and the stream and the community — it’s not like I’m just a gamer anymore, it’s so much bigger than that. It’s still nice to fall back on what started it all.
“I can’t f**king help it. I played 12 hours off-stream the other day. Passion.”
How long NICKMERCS has left in the tank to grind Apex Legends is up to him, but with his grind to Predator still ongoing, there’s still plenty of room for him to grow and become the best in yet another battle royale title after Warzone.