Tim Esfandiari (born September 3), known online as Esfand or EsfandTV, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He is a founding member and co-owner of the gaming organization One True King.[2]
Esfand | |||||||
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Personal information | |||||||
Born | Tim Esfandiari September 3 Texas, United States | ||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||
Occupations | |||||||
Organizations |
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Twitch information | |||||||
Channel | |||||||
Location | Austin, Texas, United States | ||||||
Years active | 2012–present | ||||||
Genres |
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Games | |||||||
Followers | 1.3 million | ||||||
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YouTube information | |||||||
Channel | |||||||
Years active | 2016–present | ||||||
Subscribers | 310 thousands[1] | ||||||
Total views | 86.71 millions[1] | ||||||
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Last updated: May 6, 2024 |
Early life
editTim Esfandiari[3] was born to a Persian American[4] family in Texas,[5] United States on September 3,[6] and grew up in Dallas, Texas.[5]
He attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he majored in computer science. He played for the college football team until he got injured, which led to him working as a staff member for the college football team, specifically in the recruiting and video department.[7] He revealed that he had wanted to be a football coach originally before his streaming career took off. He had worked with Chad Morris, Justin Lawler, James Quinn, and Trey Quinn during his time at the university.[5][8]
Career
edit2012–2020: Early career
editEsfandiari created his Twitch account[9] in 2012 and his YouTube account EsfandTV in 2016,[10] predominantly streaming World of Warcraft and Madden NFL content during his early streaming career. He began streaming on YouTube and explained that he started streaming because he wanted to record his raid on World of Warcraft, but because he didn't have enough hard drive space, he had to store them on YouTube, which eventually gained traction and became the most watched World of Warcraft private server streamer.[8] On November 15, 2017, his YouTube channel got a DMCA strike by Blizzard for streaming the private World of Warcraft server. He then switched platforms to Twitch and started streaming there.[8][11]
On February 2, 2019, it was announced that Esfandiari had joined esports organization Method Gaming as part of their roster of content creators.[12]
On April 30, 2019, Esfandiari and fellow Twitch streamer and friend Mizkif, were banned from Twitch in response to an incident that occurred at PAX East between them and Jenna "Meowri", a streamer and cosplayer, where Esfandiari and Mizkif made an insensitive joke towards Meowri during a livestream. They were then unbanned seven days later.[13]
2020–Present: One True King and football content
editOn June 25, 2020, Esfandiari announced that he had left Method Gaming following the organization’s mishandling of a series of sexual harassment and abuse allegations.[14]
On October 11, 2020, Esfandiari and fellow Twitch streamers Asmongold, Mizkif, Rich Campbell, and Tips Out announced the launch of their new gaming, streaming, and content creation organization, One True King.[2][15]
In October 2021, he collaborated with Twitch and started Let's Go! Football, a weekly show in which he discusses football with current and former players such as JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ryan Shazier, along with some of his fellow Twitch streamers.[5][16] Later that month, Esfandiari appeared on the infamous Twitch Leaks, which revealed the top Twitch streamers earnings from August 2019 to October 2021. Esfandiari was ranked 66 on the list, with a reported payout of $1,170,700.02 during this time period.[17]
In early 2022, he reached one million followers on Twitch.[16] On May 14, 2022, Esfandiari was one of the pre-fight interviewer for the 2022 Creator Clash charity boxing event.[18][19]
On April 15, 2023, Esfandiari participated in the 2023 Creator Clash as the pre-fight interviewer.[20] Later on April 27, 2023, Esfandiari hosted an event called Draft Day Extravaganza, a football event to coincide with the first day of the NFL Draft. The five-hour broadcast featured a rotating cast of both Twitch creators like Esfandiari and current and former NFL players including Austin Ekeler, Micah Parsons and Kenny Vaccaro.[16][21][22]
Philanthropy
editOn April 29, 2023, Esfandiari and One True King organized a charity event called Charity Lift-A-Thon, featuring OTK members and other Twitch streamers lifting weights for charity, with a goal of lifting one pound for every dollar donated during the stream. They managed to raise more than $140,601 towards Games for Love.[23][24]
Personal life
editEsfandiari is a supporter of Dallas Cowboys.[5]
During a livestream on May 3, 2022, in South Korea, Esfandiari had chipped a bone in his thumb while playing against an arcade machine, for which he was hospitalized later.[25]
Awards and nominations
editYear | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
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2022 | The Streamer Awards | Best MMORPG Streamer | Nominated | [26] |
2023 | Nominated | [27] | ||
Feb 2024 | Nominated | [28] | ||
Dec 2024 | Best Roleplay Streamer | Pending | [29] | |
Best Sports Streamer | Pending |
References
edit- ^ a b "About Esfand". YouTube.
- ^ a b Switzer, Eric (October 11, 2020). "One True King - New Organization Founded By Twitch Streamers Asmongold, Mizkif, And Esfand". TheGamer. Archived from the original on May 9, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Browning, Kellen; Draper, Kevin (December 29, 2021). "How John Madden Became the 'Larger-Than-Life' Face of a Gaming Empire". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ EsfandTV (April 9, 2023). "Jesus already did, but I'm Persian so I'm running late… hopefully few more days". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved June 5, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Machlin, Tzvi (May 5, 2024). "Q&A With EsfandTV: 'Let's Go! Football' On Twitch, Cowboys' Hopes, Teaching Football To Gamers". The Spun. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ EsfandTV (September 3, 2020). "Yes it's my birthday, thanks for the birthday wishes everyone! No stream today, Birthday PO Box tomorrow and then Tony Hawk's 1+2 Remaster releases tomorrow for Boomer Month. Saturday I'm going to start Knights of the Old Republic to play through for the first time this weekend!". Twitter. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Texas, CBS (September 13, 2013). "SMU Adds Former NSA Research Director To Cyber Security Program - CBS Texas". CBS News. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
- ^ a b c "How Esfand Went From 'Warcraft' To Streaming Thursday Night Football". UPROXX. January 11, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ "EsfandTV - Streams List and Statistics". TwitchTracker. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ DeAngelo, Daniel (March 22, 2023). "Twitch Streamer Esfand Accidentally Helps Mall Thief". Game Rant. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ EsfandTV (November 15, 2018). "1 year ago today, Blizzard DMCA'd me for streaming Vanilla WoW private servers. I moved to Twitch, rebuilt my channel, and a year later Blizzard invited me out to stream at BlizzCon. It's been a crazy year with ups and downs, thank all you so much for the support!". Twitter. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Method. "Method Welcomes Esfand - Method". www.method.gg. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Strickland, Will (May 16, 2019). "Streamer behind Mizkif and Esfand's Twitch ban makes controversial follow-up comment". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Miceli, Max (June 25, 2020). "Multiple Method affiliates end relationship with organization following sexual harassment allegations". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Michael, Cale (October 11, 2020). "Asmongold, Mizkif, Esfand, and more form One True King organization". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ a b c Lee, Alexander (April 26, 2023). "How a Twitch streamer's NFL Draft event shows brands' interest in fans at the crossroads of gaming and sports". Digiday. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Alex Tsiaoussidis, Max Miceli (July 14, 2022). "Full list of all Twitch payouts (Twitch leaks)". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Polhamus, Blaine (April 13, 2022). "Esfand, MoistCr1tikal join Creator Clash boxing event as interviewer and color commentator". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Polhamus, Blaine (April 19, 2022). "Esfand trains iDubbbz, Justaminx, and Michael Reeves ahead of Creator Clash". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Polhamus, Blaine (January 24, 2023). "When is Creator Clash 2? Creator Clash 2 start date and time". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ "Digital Creator Esfand To Host Pro Football Draft Show". SPORTFIVE - sportsmarketing agency. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Blancaflor, Saleah (October 20, 2023). "Twitch is the best way to watch sports, when you can actually watch sports on Twitch". Polygon. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ "OTK Lift-A-Thon Raises Over $125,000 for Children's Charities". InvenGlobal. May 1, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ "After raising $140,000 by pumping iron, OTK gets 'Elevated' with latest talent search". Tubefilter. May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Polhamus, Blaine (May 4, 2022). "Esfand transported to hospital on first day of OTK's South Korea trip". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Polhamus, Blaine (March 13, 2022). "All 2022 Streamer Award Winners". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Snavely, Adam (March 12, 2023). "Streamer Awards 2023: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Cale Michael, Nicholas Taifalos (February 18, 2024). "Streamer Awards 2024: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ "The 2024 Streamer Awards: All Nominations". Esports Illustrated On SI. November 12, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.