Bill Petras, Former World of Warcraft Art Director Who Shaped Its Distinct Visuals, Has Died

Bill Petras, former World of Warcraft art director who shaped the art direction on the groundbreaking MMORPG, has passed away.

Petras began working at Blizzard back in 1997 and was there for close to two decades. He worked on Starcraft, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft and Overwatch, eventually becoming the Art Director for the latter two games. His vision shaped the WoW art style that we all know well. 

He also worked as the art director for Blizzard's canceled MMORPG, Titan. That project was originally  confirmed as being in development in 2008 and eventually canceled in 2013. Many of the art assets for Titan were used in the original Overwatch.

Petras left Blizzard for a time, and co-founded Red 5 Studios, the studio behind MMOFPS Firefall, before eventually returning to Blizzard. Harley D. Huggins II, a friend and colleague, shared news about Petras’ death on LinkedIn. This was quickly followed by many comments mourning the man and the artist, and the big loss this is for the industry.