One of Overwatch’s Most Popular Streamers is Taking a Break from the Game

One of Overwatch’s most popular streamers, Daniel ‘Dafran’ Francesca, is taking a break from the game.

Dafran has announced that he does not currently enjoy playing the game, and will instead be playing other games – particularly Realm Royale, a champions-based battle royale game – for the time being. He does state, however, that he is not quitting Overwatch permanently.

The announcement comes shortly after Dafran missed out on a place on the Denmark national committee for the Overwatch World Cup.

Having campaigned for the spot as community lead – which was supposed to be decided by public vote, which Dafran should have secured with ease based on his sizeable following – he was denied the spot after Blizzard seemingly disqualified him at the last minute.

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Having an anticipated participation in the World Cup pulled out from under him might well have impacted the game’s appeal for Dafran, but he’s also long been known as a player who can get frustrated at the game, which has led to behaviours that have seen him suspended on several occasions.

Dafran’s departure isn’t an insignificant matter for Overwatch’s streaming presence, however. Dafran is one of few popular streamers who dedicates significant time to the game, with the popularity of the battle royale genre – in particular the Fortnite phenomenon – drawing away many would-be titans of Twitch.

The result is that Overwatch’s presence on the platform drops significantly when the Overwatch League isn’t running. Dafran’s absence isn’t insignificant in that respect, and as the league draws to a close the game’s broader presence on Twitch seems to increasingly dwindle.