Last week, we covered the tragic death of Byron Bernstein, the popular streamer and World of Warcraft player who took his own life at the age of 31. Bernstein, better known as “Reckful” to fans, had over a quarter-million YouTube and almost a million Twitch followers. As we noted last week, tributes emerged across World of Warcraft as followers mourned his loss, and many are pointing to mental health hotlines for those similarly struggling with depression.
Notably for our corner of the online gaming industry, Bernstein was also in the process of creating his own MMO, a sprite-filled world called Everland. We’d covered the game a bit before; it was set to be a “social MMO” where players would be “just logging in and hanging out with [their] friends” without “fear of falling behind and being unable to play with other people.”
Unfortunately, with Bernstein’s passing, it’s uncertain whether Everland’s development will continue. The team has said it’s not ready to make a decision about the future of the game just yet, according to Discord.
Here is his last YouTube video discussing the game. o7, Reckful.
