The Most Popular Overwatch Streamer

Overwatch released as a sensation that took the world of competitive gaming by storm.

Blizzard's hallmark character-driven first-person shooter exemplified just how far you could push the genre of shooter, team-based Esports.

With the success of the game, it was only natural that it would attract some of the most prolific personalities from around the globe.

Competitive gamers flocked in droves to get a piece of the newest pie on the block. From competitive legends to exalted and renowned casters, some of the industry's finest veterans and new conquerors alike migrated to Overwatch to make their name.

Among these heroes were a handful of streamers.

Primarily entertainers over competitive players, streamers have the difficult job of making themselves fun to watch and balancing that with their ability to play the game well.

In this article, we're going to discuss arguably the most prominent name among these streamers. It's hard to pin down just who is the most popular, or who is the best, but we have our money on this guy.

Dafran

Daniel Francesca was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the 27th of December 1993.

Dafran began his Overwatch career as a competitive player. His humble beginnings involved him playing for team Denmark during the Overwatch World Cup in 2016.

After this, he went on to play for Selfless Gaming during the Overwatch 2017 Season, before he was controversially suspended from play.

He returned to play during 2019. As the Overwatch League was set to expand into a franchise model, Dafran joined up with the Atlanta Reign for the beginning of the league.

At the end of Stage one, however, Dafran announced his intention to retire from competitive play in favor of becoming a full-time streamer, and what a good decision that was.

Dafran's early competitive career was marred by scandal and controversy. Remember that suspension? Well, that came about as a punishment for him throwing Overwatch games on stream.

Not only that, but he was also streaming the well-known pornographic dating sim "Nekopara" on top of his matches, not just breaking Blizzards terms of service, but Twitch's as well.

Dafran has a short career with Atlanta Reign, bringing them to modest placements and proving himself as their most popular player. He brought them to a Stage one finish of 4-3, and a top-six placement at playoffs, where they lost in the quarter-finals to Philadelphia Fusion.

He capitalized on this popularity when deciding to launch his streaming career.

What's more, he had the best-selling jersey of the entirety of the Stage one 2019 season, so not only was he Atlanta Reign's most popular player, it's possible he was the Overwatch League's most popular player overall.

He announced his retirement from play on Twitter, on the 7th of November after their Stage One defeat.

The reasons he cites for retiring from competitive play generally revolve around no longer enjoying competing. Despite this, he continued to stream the game regularly, although it seems he has found much more success for himself without the pressures of world-class competition.