Jeremy ‘Disguised Toast’ Wang has explained why Twitch stars like Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel can’t become “household names” like television and movie celebrities, claiming gaming is still too “niche” — and they might never eclipse traditional entertainers.
In the third episode since the OfflineTV Podcast’s returned to YouTube, Disguised Toast sat down with Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys and explained why he thinks internet stars can’t become household names like other celebrities.
To illustrate his point, he referred to streaming giants like Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins and Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel.
He claimed that despite making waves on the internet and even in real life, gaming is still too “niche” to compare to other industries.
“The biggest impact a gamer has had would be Ninja. He made a lot of money, and it kind of paved the way for those platform deals. Ninja’s manager was really smart about what he did and kind of set all of us up,” Toast said.
But while he thinks it would be “cool” to reach that level, he thinks it isn’t enough to become a “household name.”
The main reason is that gaming is still too “niche” compared to more traditional things like acting.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Toast also used xQc as an example: “Not a lot of people would know him, right? If you’re into gaming, you’ll know him. But a lot of people still aren’t into gaming.”
“Maybe gaming reaches a point one day where it’s synonymous with television and movies. That would be cool. That would be very nice. But we’re still far from there.”
Toast revealed that he’s “thought about” making a short film with the OfflineTV crew. However, he fears that the audience would be too caught up with identifying them.
We’ll have to wait and see whether that happens. But in the meantime, he’s still branching out in other ways — like hosting the podcast once again.
