In September 2025, Blizzard went to court against the operators of the largest private server for WoW Classic. A settlement has now been reached.
What did the court decide? Blizzard won the court case against the operators of Turtle WoW. The court ruled in favor of the company behind franchises such as Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft on all counts and obtained a temporary injunction. The key points of the injunction:
- Immediate cessation of operations: The defendants must immediately cease all development, maintenance, distribution, and promotion of their private servers.
- Ban on “Turtle WoW 2.0”: The ban explicitly includes modified clients and the planned “remaster” project in Unreal Engine.
- Financial restrictions: No donations or payments may be accepted for these projects.
- No successor projects: It is prohibited to transfer source codes, software, or social media accounts to third parties to enable a “successor” to Turtle WoW.
Apparently, the operators of TurtleWoW have irrevocably waived their right to appeal or contest this ruling. Instead, they were able to reach a confidential settlement with Blizzard, but no details are available yet. It is currently unclear whether and which of the key points of the injunction will take effect. The Turtle WoW servers are still online.
You can find the full ruling from the U.S. District Court for Central California on courtlistener.com.
Can we expect more Classic experiments like Hardcore soon?
The path for official Classic Plus is clear
What do I need to know about Turtle WoW? Over the past few years, Turtle WoW has managed to become one of the largest private server projects for World of Warcraft with the promise of a free Classic Plus experience, attracting around 50,000 players at times. In September 2025, Blizzard took legal action against the operators for the first time. It took nearly 8 months until the settlement.
Classic Plus represents a version of WoW that builds on Classic and gradually expands that foundation with new content, rather than following the familiar path towards Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and so on.
While Blizzard has already experimented with a lighter version of Classic Plus through its Classic seasons, it has never gone all-in. However, due to some hints and suggestions, many fans are currently hoping that this year will see a change and that developers will announce a true Classic Plus variant at BlizzCon in September.
It would fit very well to clear the way by removing Turtle WoW, the biggest competitor for such a format. The Blizzard developers had already done something similar with the private server Nostalrius before they first announced WoW Classic. You probably remember – Nostalrius threatens: “Blizzard makes Classic servers or we will do it”
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