On 18 April 2026 the Turtle WoW team formally announced the end of the project. In compliance with the settlement and permanent injunction obtained by Blizzard, all realms would shut down on 15 May 2026, closing a run of almost eight years for the largest Classic+ server in the scene.
Wowhead's headline summed up the community mood: "It's Official – TurtleWoW is Over." Coverage from Massively Overpowered, GameRant and others noted that Turtle WoW's custom expansion "Mysteries of Azeroth", new races and zones had made it a reference point for what Classic+ could look like.
The same day, Stormforge – the Tauri/Atlantiss collaboration running TBC, WotLK+ and Mists of Pandaria realms – confirmed it had received a cease-and-desist and would close on 14 May 2026. Commentators immediately began speculating that Blizzard was clearing the field ahead of an official Classic+ announcement.
The servers went dark as planned on 15 May. On 1 June the former team announced a new studio, Moonwhisper Games, to build an original MMO, and community spin-offs such as OctoWoW appeared within weeks.