Sketchek, professional TF2 player resurfaces after faking his death 3 years ago

Sketchek was, or is, a popular Team Fortress 2 player who mainly played the Pyro class, and was ridiculously good at it. So good, that Valve themselves added an in-game passive ability to the ‘Axtinguisher’ Pyro Melee called ‘Sketchek’s Bequest’ as a tribute to the player.

Back in late 2015, Sketchek released a video publicly announcing that ‘the clock is ticking’ for him and his health is gradually deteriorating, because of a problem with his central nervous system. He didn’t give any specifics, citing that he doesn’t want to talk about in detail and that’s all he’s willing to share. He said he’s completely done with playing Team Fortress 2 and is now ‘spending a lot of time with family and friends, getting out, trying new things, going on adventures, just living my day like it’s my last.’ The video has been deleted by him, but has been re-uploaded by someone else.

Surfacing again after three years of silence, Sketchek announced that the ‘terminal illness’ he had was a lie and he was never sick in the first place.

Sketchek has released a video recently on his YouTube Channel titled “謝罪” (which is Japanese for the word “Apology). In this video, he apologised for what he did and agreed that he ‘took it too far’. At the timestamp 2:35, Sketchek said when he decided to quit, he came up with the idea of faking his own death to draw more attention. But since then he’s now realised that ‘it was a really f**cked up thing to do’. He continued with saying that he has started to play Team Fortress 2 again, wants to reveal the truth to everyone, and start making content again.

Sketchek started by reaching out to some of his friends that he played with, revealing the truth to them. The below tweet was also posted by an unverified Twitter user named ‘sketchek’, which could be a reference to his return.

kept you waiting huh

— sketchek (@sketchek) February 5, 2019

Sketchek ended the video saying what he did is indefensible, but he’s really sorry and doesn’t expect forgiveness but hopes people can still enjoy his content regardless.

My thoughts on this? I believe he handled what he did pretty well and is ready to face the consequences. In the end, it’s not all about our mistakes, but how we owe up to them. I’m looking forward to his return and hope the community understands his perspective.