Bill Petras, Blizzard veteran and art director of World of Warcraft and Overwatch, dies
Sad news in the gaming community: Bill Petras, the Blizzard veteran behind the visual style of such iconic games as World of Warcraft and Overwatch, has passed away.
Here's What We Know
The tragic loss was announced on LinkedIn by Harley D Huggins, a former Blizzard developer and friend of Bill's. A ceremony to honour his memory will be held in the coming days.
"Bill Petras, a game development legend, has passed away unexpectedly. Billy was an incredibly talented artist who worked at Blizzard Entertainment for almost two decades. He took immense pride in his work, especially as art director for World of Warcraft and Overwatch," Huggins wrote.
"Billy and I started working at Blizzard the same week and have been close friends for 28 years. I'll miss our regular, long, rambling conversations about life, game development, gaming, art, comics, toys, monster movies, and Conan. He will be deeply missed by me and everyone who knew him."
Petras worked for Blizzard twice during his 24-year career in the gaming industry. The first period, from 1997 to 2005, was marked by his work as the art director of World of Warcraft, an era when the game became a global phenomenon.
After that, he left Blizzard to work at Red5 Games on Firefall, but returned in January 2010 to lead the art direction of Overwatch as the game's art director.
His last role at Blizzard was as art director for Overwatch 2. He left the company in October 2021.
Source: LinkedIn
