Blizzard senior art director Samwise Didier, who joined the company in 1991 while it was still called Silicon and Synapse and would define the studio's art style, has retired after 32 years.

Didier's contributions to Blizzard were numerous. For starters, he came up with the name Warcraft, which came from his Dungeons and Dragons character at the time and was a riff on the word witchcraft. He served as an art director on Blizzard's major franchises from the very beginning, helping to create the developer's signature art style, a style that would look right at home on the cover of a heavy metal album. He created Warcraft's Pandaren race, served as a producer on numerous Blizzard titles, and has lent his voice, music, and storytelling skills to numerous Blizzard games over the years.

"Blizzard was never just a job for me," Didier said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter). I joined the company in 1991 and it immediately became my second home. I found out I had a family that I didn't even know I had! I grew up there. I learned almost everything I know about art there. I learned how to use a computer (I only knew Atari 2600 and Nintendo), I learned how to use Photoshop, I learned how to create UI and make thousands of buttons. I learned how to create 3D models of my art, how to texture and animate them, and even make them shoot fireballs or lasers. I got to see my art come to life! Hell, I even joined my first band at Blizzard. And to top it all off, I got to work on some of the greatest games this here ol' world has ever known. Thank you Blizzard, for everything."