Atlanta Reign’s DPS player and popular streamer Daniel “Dafran” Francesca has retired from Overwatch League.
The announcement comes unexpectedly, with Dafran only having completed a single stage in Overwatch League’s second season. The announcement was made in a statement on the Atlanta Reign’s Twitter account.
Atlanta Reign Announce the Retirement of Daniel “Dafran” Francesca from the @overwatchleague. pic.twitter.com/FEkR8cNyvw
— Atlanta Reign (@ATLReign) March 28, 2019
Dafran’s retirement is a big hit for both the league and the Reign, as he was undoubtedly one of the most popular players in Overwatch League — having sold the highest number of custom jerseys.
While the departure is sudden, it won’t come as a shock to fans familiar with Dafran’s Overwatch career. The popular streamer has “quit” Overwatch in the past due to his frustrations with the game’s toxicity, was banned by Blizzard in 2017, and has admittedly to throwing professional games in the past. Recently he was quoting say “competing and scrimming made me very depressed and bored,” and was worrying his fans with erratic behavior — such as showering with his clothing on, and watching to the same dance video for ten hours straight.
So while he’s leaving Overwatch League, he’s not leaving Overwatch, nor is he leaving the Atlanta Reign organization. In their statement on Dafran’s retirement, the Reign shared that “with the help of Twitch Prime Dafran will really manage to continue popping off as he joins Atlanta Reign as the newest member of our streaming team!”
Prior to joining OWL, Dafran was one of the most popular Overwatch streamers on Twitch, and his fans will undoubtedly follow him when he returns to streaming full-time. In a statement on TwitLonger, Dafran shared that “I am leaving the OWL and going back to comfy streamer life.”
Hopefully without the pressure of professional play on his shoulders, Dafran will get himself back to being happy and healthy.
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