Overwatch and World of Warcraft's veteran game art designer passes away

Bill Petras, art director of popular game developer Blizzard Entertainment, passed away at the age of 54. The sad news was shared by his friend and colleague, Harley D. Huggins, on LinkedIn. He worked for more than 30 years in the gaming industry. Blizzard is planning to celebrate his life and achievements in a few days. Bill Petras is the man behind popular games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft. Petras played a huge role in the visual direction of these games and was the reason behind their success among fans. 

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Bill Petras passed away

In the 90s, Bill worked with the developer GameTech and created popular games like Ripper, Star Crusader and Blood Net. He then joined Blizzard Entertainment, and his first project was StarCraft. Petras created the storyboard, 3D and cinematic art. In 2004, he worked in World of Warcraft as an art director. Its visuals were way more advanced during that time, and through that, many games like Dungeons and Dragons took shape. He left Blizzard in 2005 and co-founded Red 5 Studios. 

Again, in 2010, he returned to Blizzard to oversee the development of Overwatch 2. His death was a huge loss for the gaming industry and many such kinds of creators. Petras lived as an example for many art directors, and he will always be remembered for his contributions to the world of gaming.

His sad demise was first posted by his friend D. Huggins on his LinkedIn profile. He posted, “Billy and I started at Blizzard the same week and were close friends for 28 years. I will miss our regular, long, rambling conversations about life, game dev, games, art, comic books, toys, monster movies and Conan. He will be deeply missed by me and all who knew him.” D. Huggins finished off with one of Thomas Campbell’s poems, “I am conan and I am not afraid of death.”

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