“Game development legend” and Overwatch art director, Bill Petras, has died unexpectedly.
“I’m writing to share some heartbreaking news,” wrote Harley D. Huggins II, former cinematic project director at Blizzard, on LinkedIn. “Bill Petras, a game development legend, has unexpectedly passed away. 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.
“I love you, brother. Rest in peace.”
Petras worked at Blizzard between May 1997 to February 2005 as lead artist and art director, and then again as senior art director between January 2010 and October 2021.
Bill Petras, Overwatch Art Director and long time Blizzard alumnus, has passed away
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