Anyone who has been following Blizzard for long enough will be familiar with the excellent art of Samwise Didier. Sadly, he’s moving on from Blizzard.
It’s safe to say that Samwise pretty much gave Blizzard art its signature style after joining the company in 1991 after answering an ad reading, “make art for video games.”. In a tweet posted this evening, he announced his departure from Blizzard.
What lies beyond the storm? pic.twitter.com/iQh9B2DLBZ
— Sam Are I (@SamwiseDidier) November 10, 2023
As Art Director, he had a hand in almost everything Blizzard. His work is found in some of the most popular videogames ever made including Blackthorne, Warcraft II, Diablo, Diablo 2, The Lost Vikings 2, StarCraft, Warcraft III, Starcraft II, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Heroes of the Storm. It’s quite a credit list.
I am sure I have quite a few bits of his signed art stored away that I have treasured over the years, all of it outstanding. For me, the memories of Samwise at Blizzard that I will remember most fondly are his performances as lead singer of Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftan at BlizzCon. Music is obviously another of his passions and he threw everything into every performance, just like he does his art.
A real loss for Blizzard and we wish him well in his future endevours.