TurtleWoW says it will shut down on May 14 after Blizzard settlement

TurtleWoW, a long-running unofficial World of Warcraft server, says it will shut down on May 14. The project also says donations have been turned off, with its website and social channels set to go dark in October.

The closure follows Blizzard’s recent copyright settlement with the server’s operators. According to TurtleWoW’s official post, the server is entering a full sunset, which lines up with the terms reported earlier this week.

TurtleWoW had built a following as a fan-run take on older WoW, adding custom content on top of a classic-style experience. But like other private servers, it operated without Blizzard’s approval, and the legal pressure appears to have finally ended the project in its current form.

TurtleWoW also posted the shutdown notice on Discord in a message seen here. Some community members are already speculating that the server could return in another form or under different management, but nothing official has been announced beyond the May 14 shutdown and the later removal of its web presence.

For now, the immediate takeaway is simple: TurtleWoW has announced an end date, and players who are still on the server have less than a month before it goes offline.