Byron Bernstein, the popular Hearthstone and World of Warcraft streamer who was better known by his gamer tag “Reckful,” has passed away, according to multiple sources. He was 31 years old.
A cause of death remains unconfirmed but a software engineer and friend of Bernstein’s, Blue, confirmed his death early Tuesday morning. Esports consultant Rod Breslau corroborated the report. Multiple memorials are now being held within WoW across multiple servers and locations to honor Bernstein’s legacy.
Reckful/Byron memorials are now being held inside World of Warcraft across multiple servers and locations to pay respects to a WoW legend pic.twitter.com/Nb4FHfwAvM
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 2, 2020
Bernstein rose to prominence in 2009 for being a top WoW player, where he claimed the highest-ranked spot in PvP for six consecutive seasons. He also won Major League Gaming’s WoW tournament in 2010, cementing both his talent and his career as a professional gamer. Following this, Bernstein transitioned to competitive Hearthstone play, participating in and casting professional matches for several years.
In 2012, Bernstein became a developer, operations manager, and concept designer at the gaming mouse company Feenix. He was also affiliated with the social MMO Everland, which has been in development since 2018. The game, slated to launch sometime this year, was a collaboration between Bernstein and his community following and was built as a tool to help people find friendship and a sense of camaraderie.
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