Turtle WoW and Stormforge Project, two prominent World of Warcraft private servers, are officially shutting down in May. These are the latest victims in a series of legal actions by Blizzard against various third-party World of Warcraft projects.
Most MMORPGs are not strangers to private servers, and World of Warcraft is no exception. Countless fan-run WoW servers use the game’s client and include various tweaks and changes; some even introduce massive alterations to the MMO, including custom zones, races, raids, and more. Most of these servers fly under the radar, but some, such as Turtle WoW, gather massive amounts of popularity. Unfortunately, this popularity drew the attention of Blizzard; in August 2025, the company filed a lawsuit against the creators of Turtle WoW for copyright and trademark infringement.
World of Warcraft Community Project Reveals What Players Want From Classic+
The Classic+ Project, a community event polling World of Warcraft Classic players about an official Classic+ release, shares its findings.
Turtle WoW and Stormforge Project Shutting Down in May
On April 11, 2026, Blizzard won its court injunction against Turtle WoW, and nearly a week later, the private server officially shared its plans for the near future. In a post on its Discord and on the Turtlecraft forums, Turtle WoW developer Torta revealed the private server would be going offline on May 15. The servers will remain active until that date, and all realms will be shifted to their final progression phases, so players can enjoy the new raids before the project is sunsetted. The Turtle WoW website, forums, and social media accounts will be shuttered on October 16.
Turtle WoW isn’t the only private server Blizzard has taken down. The same day, Stormforge Project announced on its website and Discord that it would also be shutting down on May 14, 2026. At press time, no new accounts can be registered for these private servers, but like Turtle WoW, the servers will remain active until the sunset date. The Stormforge Project website and Discord will be shutting down around the same time, joining the list of WoW private servers Blizzard has come for in the last year.
The Stormforge Project closure announcement implied that the developers may be working on original projects independent of Blizzard’s intellectual property.
Could Blizzard’s Legal Action Be a Hint at Future Classic WoW Content?
This whole situation seems reminiscent of a similar one that took place almost exactly a decade ago. On April 10, 2016, another private World of Warcraft server called Nostalrius was taken down. Like Turtle WoW, it was one of the largest and longest-running Vanilla WoW servers on the market at the time. About a year and a half after the death of Nostalrius, World of Warcraft officially announced Classic WoW, which was formally released in August 2019.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
The similarities between these two situations raise the question of why Blizzard chose now to go after projects like Turtle WoW and Stormforge. These and other targeted private servers offer varying degrees of “Classic+” experiences – Vanilla or early WoW expansions with brand-new content and abundant quality-of-life improvements. The official World of Warcraft Classic team has been suspiciously quiet for a long time now, though it has teased a big announcement that is likely to happen at BlizzCon later this year. Considering Blizzard has been going after big Classic+ servers, it is possible this announcement could be for an official Classic+ project, mirroring the closure of Nostalrius heralding Classic WoW. Fans will have to tune in to the BlizzCon 2026 broadcasts on September 12 to find out for sure.
- Released
-
November 23, 2004
- ESRB
-
T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)
- Engine
-
Unreal Engine
