World of Warcraft and Overwatch art director Bill Petras has passed away
Bill Petras, a Blizzard veteran of nearly 20 years who worked on titles such as Overwatch and World of Warcraft, has died unexpectedly at the age of 54.
The details:
As shared by long-time friend and former Blizzard cinematic project director Harley D. Huggins II on LinkedIn, Petras passed away unexpectedly last week, with his family planning a Celebration of Life soon. “I’m writing to share some heartbreaking news. Bill Petras, a game development legend has unexpectedly passed away,” Huggins wrote. “Billy was an amazingly gifted artist who worked at Blizzard Entertainment for almost two decades. He was immensely proud of the work he did there, most notably as the Art Director for World of Warcraft and Overwatch. 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.”
Petras had been in the gaming industry for 24 years, including nearly two decades at Blizzard over two stints. From 1997 to 2005, he was the art director for World of Warcraft and also worked on StarCraft and its Brood War expansion. He later left Blizzard to join Firefall developer Red5, before returning to the publisher to oversee Overwatch and its sequel as art director.
Petras' legacy will live on in WoW, which is still receiving new expansions over 20 years after its release, and in Overwatch, where an in-universe law known as the "Petras Act" is a direct reference to the art director. Back in 2017, Petras and associate art director Arnold Tsang revealed the Overwatch art team's pivotal role in the development of the hero shooter, with Torbjörn's design helping shift the project away from a failed MMO idea.
