The team-based shooter Overwatch has lost one of its heroes. The talent behind the voice of Soldier 76 in Italy has unfortunately passed away and the game took time to pay tribute to the actor through Twitter.
There are currently 32 playable characters in Overwatch and each of them has a plethora of voice lines that have been translated and recorded by different actors. One of those actors, Roberto Draghetti, who voices the gruff Soldier 76, aka Jack Morrison, passed away late last week. As part of the Overwatch family, Blizzard posted a few kind words about the man, praising the work he gave to the game, saying, "His extraordinary talent and unmistakable voice delivered depth and passion to one of Overwatch’s most iconic heroes."
Draghetti passed away from a heart attack on July 24, just a month shy of his 60th birthday. He hailed from Rome, Italy, and was the talent behind many memorable characters throughout his career. He provided the voices of animated characters like Eddy from Ed, Edd n Eddy, and Cyborg in Teen Titans, and was the official dubber of actors like Jamie Foxx, Terry Crews, and Idris Elba.
Another Overwatch voice actor was recently revealed to be part of an upcoming entry to a popular franchise. Darin De Paul, the English voice of Reinhardt, joined the cast of Halo Infinite. This was discovered as part of a blog post by developer 343 Industries, who disclosed a partial cast list that included De Paul. He will voice the newest villain of the series, War Chief Escharum, the Banished leader introduced in the recent Halo Infinite gameplay premiere trailer.
In other Overwatch news, hero Moira had a variety of changes applied in the game's Experimental Mode. While the bulk of these alterations are actually debuffs, one is major Moira buff players aren't happy about. It allows her Fade ability to phase out all allies within 6 meters for 1 second after exiting Fade, providing immunity to damage and effects. Currently, it is just in Experimental Mode, but due to the public outcry from players, it is likely this change will never hit the live server.
Overwatch is available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and the Nintendo Switch.