Overwatch and World of Warcraft art director Bill Petras has passed away.
The news was shared by former colleagues on social media, prompting an outpouring of tributes from colleagues, friends, and players.
"I’m writing to share some heartbreaking news. Bill Petras, a game development legend, has unexpectedly passed away," said former Blizzard cinematic project director, Harley D. Huggins II, on Linkedin.
"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."
Former Blizzard senior director of story and creative development, James Waugh, described Petras as a "huge hearted and genuine" person who cared deeply about those around him.
"He was the type of person that built trust instantly and you knew he truly cared. He strove for excellence creatively, but never lost sight of the humans that needed to make the excellence and feel seen making it," he wrote on Linkedin. "This is deeply tragic. The industry lost one of its masters, and the world has lost a great human."
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Petras spent the majority of his career at Blizzard. He worked on franchises such as StarCraft and World of Warcraft during his first stint at the studio, which began in the 1990s and ended in 2005 when he departed to establish Red 5 Studios Inc.
He returned to the company 2010 and was eventually asked to help steer production on Overwatch as art director. He served as senior art director on Overwatch 2 before departing the studio for a second time.