Technoblade, a YouTube personality who amassed a following of millions with his tongue-in-cheek comments on videos of himself playing Minecraft, has died, his father announced in a video posted on his son’s account.
More than 11 million subscribers were in the habit of watching screenshots of Technoblade’s Minecraft gameplay while he provided off-camera commentary. Although he usually focused on what was happening in the game, in some videos he described everyday life events like going to the DMV or as devastating as receiving a cancer diagnosis.
A video titled “so long nerds,” which was posted to Technoblade’s YouTube channel on Thursday and had been viewed more than 26 million times as of Friday afternoon, deviated from the channel’s usual aesthetic of colorful, pixelated bricks. Instead, a man who identifies himself as Technoblade’s father appears, sitting in a chair against a bright white background with a small white dog on his lap.
His father, who did not give his name, read a message from his son that began: “Hello everyone. Technoblade here. If you’re watching this, I’m dead.”
The message goes on to reveal Technoblade’s first name, Alex, which he didn’t use online. The video also includes a handful of photos of Alex with loved ones. He rarely appeared in his YouTube videos, preferring instead to appear as his avatar: a crowned pig with a sword.
“If I had a hundred more lives, I think I’d choose to be a Technoblade again every time,” Alex’s letter reads. “Those were the happiest years of my life.”
His father, who remains emotional throughout the video, says he and his son have talked for months about recording one last video. Alex decided to write the letter instead and died about eight hours after finishing it, his father said.
“I don’t think he said everything he wanted to say, but I think he got the gist of it,” he says.
The video ends with a written statement attributed to Alex’s mother, who has not been named. She wrote that her son avoids personal fame and is self-deprecating, even though his channel’s popularity is skyrocketing.
“From Technoblade’s earliest online days, he was always strategizing ways to delight and reward his audience, giving away online prizes, promoting good sportsmanship, and most of all, sharing his Minecraft adventures for fun and laughs,” she wrote.
Alex’s family could not be found Friday. Hypixel, a gaming company that works with Technoblade, said the family had asked not to be forwarded to them for comment. “The video they shared contains all the information they are comfortable sharing right now,” said Don Pireso, the company’s lead administrator, in a direct message on Twitter.
Alex first publicly acknowledged his cancer diagnosis in a video posted on his channel in August. Like the others, the video shows the game while he talks off-camera. He retained his self-deprecating, humorous style, refusing to be too serious. He also revealed his age at the time, 22.
In the video, he describes how the first round of chemotherapy left him so exhausted he could barely sit down for a virtual doctor’s appointment. He then quipped: “Sitting in a chair, am I Superman?”
He said he was diagnosed after experiencing severe pain in his arm. At first he dismissed it as a repetitive stress injury from playing video games, but even after a few days of rest, he said, his shoulder was “swelling up like crazy.”
He also urged people to get a Covid-19 vaccine, saying cancer treatment had weakened his immune system, putting him at greater risk of serious illness from the coronavirus.
“I’m going to go ahead and speak for all cancer patients in saying that it’s incredibly annoying when hospitals are overwhelmed with people dying from preventable diseases,” he said in the video. “I’m just saying we have crap in these hospital beds.”
On social media, Technoblade’s friends and fans praised him for his humor and being a role model for Minecraft players.
Minecraft is unlike most games because its owner, Microsoft, does not control the servers where players meet online. Instead, players can create their own servers or join one made by someone else, creating a wide network of worlds in the Minecraft universe.
Hypixel, which runs a network of Minecraft servers, said it has created a digital memorial book for people to write messages in, which will be printed and sent to Technoblade’s family. The company’s tribute included an illustration of Technoblade’s pig avatar as a statue. “In many ways, the success of many of us is tied to the success of Technoblade,” the company said.
One of Technoblade’s friends, YouTuber Thomas Simons, better known as TommyInnit, described him on Twitter as a “legend”.
“I just know,” Mr. Simons wrote, “he is strategizing in heaven how to defeat God.”
Claire Fahy contributed reporting.
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