World of Warcraft has won its lawsuit against Turtle WoW, a group of player-run private servers, and the ruling includes a permanent injunction that carries the risk of Turtle WoW being shut down. The World of Warcraft private server lawsuit was litigated over eight months, with Blizzard and Turtle WoW reaching an additional settlement following the California court's ruling.
In short, Turtle WoW is a re-creation of World of Warcraft Classic, with some additional changes that differ from the official World of Warcraft game client. These differences between Turtle WoW and World of Warcraft Classic include, but are not limited to, playable goblins and high elves, new leveling zones, and features such as transmogrification that only became available in later World of Warcraft expansions. Turtle WoW peaked at approximately 44,000 players worldwide when Blizzard filed a lawsuit against it, citing multiple instances of copyright infringement and unauthorized use of World of Warcraft's various assets.
World of Warcraft plans to bring back several limited-time promo items from past events, and the first batch might be arriving in Patch 12.0.5.
After Blizzard sued Turtle WoW in August 2025, a California court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. According to...
