Byron “Reckful” Bernstein has died of what is said to be suicide on Thursday, July 2nd, 2020. Reckful from Austin, Texas was a prominent content creator on the Twitch platform most notably known for his World of Warcraft PVP gameplay. He had major achievements in other games like Hearthstone and Asherons call, Reckful also created a popular podcast called “Teatime with Byron”. His channel has over 923,809 followers and 112,643,260 total views since created on November 9th, 2009. He was a legend.
Slasher a well-known Esports industry insider was the first to report the death via Twitter claiming it was confirmed by his ex-girlfriend Blue “BlueGoesMew” Madrigal and his roommate.
according to his ex girlfriend, Byron ‘Reckful’ Bernstein has passed away. i can’t believe this.
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 2, 2020
Reckful had taken a backseat from streaming in the past month to focus on the release of his indie game Everland. Everland is an MMO that has been in development since 2018 slated to release this year. He tweeted happily after a stress test on May 16th, 2020 about opening the game up to the world.
taking everland servers down for the night – back up in 12 hours
happy with today =) only small bugs, everyone connected at same time with no lag or crashes
tomorrow, going to let everyone in, whether you pre-registered or not. got the build on steam 😀https://t.co/NJkWNl1Ih8
— Reckful (@Byron) May 16, 2020
Reckful has been dealing with mental health issues for over 16 years, in January he shared a video stating that he no longer felt depressed and was happy. When he was just 6 years old his brother committed suicide, he also had a long battle with depression. On the outside, it seemed his condition was improving claiming that his work on Everland gave him a “sense of purpose”.
Just hours before his death Reckful tweeted a marriage proposal to his ex-girlfriend Becca via Twitter. He stated in his tweet that he has not seen her in 6 months and the reason for the post was that he wanted her to know his commitment was real.
i know i’ll always be a little too crazy… and this is proof… but at least you’ll never be bored
will you marry me, becca? pic.twitter.com/Xpmz3IlRqv
— Reckful (@Byron) July 2, 2020
Becca did not have a chance to see the proposal before he died and was extremely disappointed that she was unable to help him. She issued a statement on Twitter expressing her gratefulness for her time spent with Reckful and her anger about the current state of the mental health system.
RIP july 2, 2020
Read: https://t.co/B70pWw96iR
— Becca (@BeccaTILTS) July 2, 2020
BlueGoesMew was in contact with him the day before offering him help but he never picked up the phone. She expressed her anger because she knew he had fallen into a bad place but was unable to help him. She shared the text messages they exchanged via Twitter.
God fucking dammit, I wish he picked up the phone. I knew he was sad but not how sad. I’m so devastated pic.twitter.com/XTG2WMVMrS
— Blue (@BlueGoesMew) July 2, 2020
Friends from all over chimed in to honor his memory along with expressing support for family and ex-girlfriends close to the situation. The World of Warcraft community has also come together across multiple servers to attend in-game memorials and mourn the loss of Reckful.
Stormwind Cathedral – Faerlina
RIP Reckful
7.2.2020 pic.twitter.com/xt54RwVIAN— Quissy (@QuissyTV) July 2, 2020
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255You are cared about. People want you around. Know and believe that.
It took me a long time struggling before I did, but I promise you are worth it.RIP Reckful.
Reach out to people. Check on friends. Caring is cool.
— Destiny Nickelsen▪️BLM (@R2Des2) July 2, 2020
This hurts so bad
Going through old photos crying and laughing thinking about every moment I’ve had with my friend.
Please feel free to share any photos or experiences you’ve had with Byron in this post, would love to hear all your stories.
— C9 Snutz (@Snutztv) July 2, 2020
Struggling to find the words to say to describe how I feel right now. Reckful was always a great friend to me and we shared experiences that I will cherish forever. I remember reckful giving me advice about dating kass, and was the main reason I streamed and became successful.
— Cdew (@cdew_wow) July 2, 2020
This isn’t a “Fuck 2020” moment. This is a “we need to pay attention to mental health” and “we need better resources in the gaming/streaming community” moment. Yes 2020 SUCKS, but that’s even more reason for us to recognize and combat the stigmas around mental health. RIP BYRON
— djWHEAT (@djWHEAT) July 2, 2020
Depression is real. Suicide is real. R.I.P legend.
