Dafran viewer buys $20,000 worth of gifted Twitch subs to get him to play Overwatch again
Robert Paul for Blizzard EntertainmentPopular Twitch streamer Dafran received $20,000 worth of gifted subs after a viewer bought the 1000 sub package four times, just so the creator would return to Overwatch 2.
Daniel ‘Dafran’ Francesca is best known for his skills in Overwatch, but he’s made a name for himself in just about any shooter he picks up.
The Danish FPS prodigy went pro in Overwatch before returning to streaming, and he’s pursued numerous side quests along the way, including becoming a farmer, a construction worker, and even a dishwasher.
He may not change career paths again, though, because one viewer dished out some big bucks to get Dafran to put Marvel Rivals down and play Overwatch again.
Dafran gets massive payday to play Overwatch
On December 13, Dafran was playing Marvel Rivals when a viewer, Theetoko, suddenly dropped one of Twitch’s new 1000 sub bombs.
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In late November, Twitch gave viewers the ability to gift 1000 subscriptions at once. While this would typically cost $6,000, the 1K bundle comes with a $1,000 discount.
The viewer didn’t stop there. After the first 1K, they went a second time and third, and a fourth, donating a whopping 4000 subs, equal to $20,000.
Francesca was blown away, especially because the fan’s request was that he “go play Overwatch.”
“I will do it,” Dafran agreed.
According to StreamsCharts, Dafran has a total of 4,178 subs as of December 15, and is making anywhere from $3,239 to $10,424 a month from the subscriptions.
Twitch’s 1000 gifted option has caused controversy with some streamers, such as Ludwig, who accused the Amazon-owned platform of only adding the feature to “suck more money from viewers.”
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This view was echoed by Dev Iyer, a former Senior Project Manager at Twitch, who claimed the platform was trying to “squeeze every penny they can get to keep leadership happy.”
Mike Minton, Twitch’s Chief Product Officer, however, disputed this claim.
“We did this because we have a small number of users that gift in large amounts and this makes it easier for them,” Minton explained. “The revenue lift here doesn’t make a difference as most of these users were already gifting large amounts.”