Turtle WoW — Blizzard Lawsuit (2025–2026)

What it was: a private World of Warcraft server running since 2018, free to play but monetized through donations and a shop. It also shipped modded clients and an Unreal Engine "remaster", Turtle WoW 2.0.

Case: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. et al. v. Turtle Wow et al., 2:25-cv-08194, Central District of California.

• Filed 2025-08-29; terminated 2026-04-15.
• Judge Stephen V. Wilson ruled for Blizzard on all seven causes of action.
• A stipulated permanent injunction against AFKCraft Ltd., Josiah Zimmer (later Jesse Lautenbach) bars private/emulated servers, modded clients, the Turtle WoW 2.0 remaster, and soliciting donations.

Outcome: shutdown announced 2026-04-18 — servers closed 2026-05-14, social channels due to close 2026-10-16.

Stated trigger: Blizzard alleged the server cannibalized live WoW player counts. This is the case that escalated past a letter — the one to cite when someone says cease and desists are "just letters."

Lesson: running someone else's live-service game as an emulated server is the riskiest category here, and taking money for it makes the case worse. This is the sharply-litigated end of the spectrum.

Sources: court filing (CourtListener), PC Gamer, PCGamesN, MMORPG.com, MMO-Champion, Tweaktown, GameSpot.