TSM Fortnite players and popular streamers Daequan and Hamlinz have been missing from Twitch for a while – but when can we expect them to come back to streaming?
When Fortnite first started to take off, the players on TSM became some of the most popular names on Twitch. Ali ‘Myth’ Kabbani was the standout star, but Daequan ‘Daequan’ Loco and Darryle ‘Hamlinz’ Hamlin were not far behind, building a solid community around them and becoming successful off the back of their in-game skills and out-of-game personas.
Though initially they were picked up by TSM as a pro Fortnite team, alongside Myth and Juan “CaMiLLs” Camilla, Daequan and Hamlinz soon transferred into full-time content creators for the organization, always hovering around the top of the Twitch charts.
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Daequan’s first hiatus
For Daequan, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen him disappear off Twitch. Earlier this year, in January, he took an extended break from the platform due to continuous spinal pain that had plagued him for five years previous.
He explained in his Twitter thread at the time that he has been struggling consistently, but is hoping to return to a regular streaming and content creation schedule down the line.
So hopefully I'll be back to streaming on a real schedule and uploading to yt daily again and doing vlogs & other videos as I've always wanted. As well as finally being able to live my life not in pain all day everyday from back to stomach to chest etc. Also, I used to go so…
— Daequan (@TSM_Daequan) Call of Duty stream upon the release of the Modern Warfare beta.
Daequan did release a video on September 19 titled ‘WHERE I HAVE BEEN’, in which he explains that he has been away from the streaming world.
In the video, he looks back at his health issues and the years of grinding he has put his body through, the issues he has had with friends and how he can’t simply sit and play Fortnite for hours on end anymore.
Where is Hamlinz?
Hamlinz also took a break from streaming towards the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. Initially, his reasoning was also health issues, tweeting out on December 17, 2018, that it is “definitely a cyst, I’m getting it removed tomorrow”.
Its definitely a cyst, Im getting it removed tomorrow. In a lot of pain rn feelsbadman :sob:
— Hamlinz :pig_face: (@TSM_Hamlinz) December 17, 2018
He then took a break for a couple of weeks, presumably to allow the cyst to heal, before a single stream that resulted in him being stream sniped and taking even more time off of the platform.
Again, Hamlinz stayed reasonably consistent throughout the year but now has not streamed or even tweeted since early August. This is in stark contrast to Daequan, who has stayed fairly active on social media despite not streaming.
When will Daequan and Hamlinz return to Twitch?
In the case of Hamlinz, we don’t know when he will be returning to streaming or show an online presence again. We know that many streamers had stopped playing Fortnite in recent weeks, with games such as Minecraft and World of Warcraft Classic becoming hugely popular once again.
However, Daequan tweeted in the early hours of Monday, October 7 that he is “ready to stream Season 11” – a sure sign that he will be coming back with the release of the new season.
Ready to stream season 11 :slightly_smiling_face:
— Daequan (@TSM_Daequan) October 7, 2019
Season 11 is set to start on Sunday, October 13, with the end of Season X being aptly named ‘The End’.
We may see Hamlinz joining his TSM teammate in returning to the platform, but he has not even hinted yet at a return, so it remains a mystery.
