Petras began his career in the gaming industry with GameTech in the early 1990s, contributing to niche titles like “Ripper,” “Star Crusader,” and “BloodNet.” His first project at Blizzard Entertainment was the original “StarCraft,” where he played a crucial role in storyboarding, 3D design, and cinematic art.
In 2005, Petras left Blizzard to co-found Red 5 Studios but returned to Blizzard in 2010 to oversee the artistic direction for another landmark game, Overwatch. At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in 2017, Petras delivered a talk on Overwatch’s art. He disclosed that after abandoning the Titan MMORPG concept to focus on developing Overwatch, Torbjörn became one of the team’s earliest and most pivotal character designs.
Huggins wrote on LinkedIn: “Billy (a nickname for Bill) and I joined Blizzard during the same week, forging a close friendship over 28 years. I’ll deeply miss our long and casual daily conversations about life, game development, games, art, comic books, toys, monster movies, and Conan the Barbarian. Everyone who knew him will miss him profoundly.” Huggins concluded with a line from Thomas Campbell’s poem “Hallowed Ground” and an iconic quote from Conan himself: “I am Conan. I do not fear death.”