The days are numbered for the World of Warcraft server known as Turtle, as Blizzard, which is owned by Microsoft, has had enough.

Blizzard recently filed a copyright lawsuit against the Turtle WoW server operators, claiming that they had built a business model based on infringing on the company’s intellectual property. Blizzard detailed how the operators built their business model on continuous infringement of Blizzard’s IP, profiting from the popularity of the MMORPG by using protected video and gaming devices.

“In the two decades since World of Warcraft was first released, Blizzard has invested an enormous amount of time and money into creating, maintaining, and updating the game. However, when unscrupulous actors, such as the defendants, seek to profit from Blizzard’s valuable intellectual property, including protected code and game assets, they undermine Blizzard’s efforts to deliver classic, community-driven content. This devalues the World of Warcraft experience and causes serious harm to Blizzard and the many artists, programmers, game designers, and other creative professionals who have worked tirelessly to create a unique, enjoyable gaming experience for new and longtime players,” the legal complaint reads.

It is unlikely that Turtle’s operators will be able to prevent the server’s complete shutdown, the copying of all project data, a full accounting of the money earned by the project, or the transfer of the domain to Blizzard, as the company demands in the lawsuit, so players will have no choice but to turn to World of Warcraft Classic to enjoy the vanilla experience, albeit without Turtle’s unique content. However, the server operators are not willing to give up without a fight. On the server’s official Discord server, they promised that Turtle would continue operating and that they are ready to face the challenges ahead.

Meanwhile, the modern World of Warcraft is preparing for an expansion called Midnight, which is set to release next year. So, it’s not just Classic that awaits the audience.

Source: WCCFTech, Courtlistener