Blizzard Shuts Down Popular WoW Private Server ‘Project Epoch’

Project Epoch

Blizzard has officially pulled the plug on Project Epoch, a World of Warcraft private server that had quickly built a community of over 25,000 players.

The shutdown came via a cease-and-desist order, ending the project less than two months after its public launch.

Project Epoch had been in development since late 2021, but it wasn’t until July 2025 that it opened its doors to players.

Designed as an “alternate timeline” for the game, the server added custom features and tweaks that gave players a new spin on Blizzard’s classic MMO. At its peak, Project Epoch attracted more than 25,000 players, with average daily numbers hovering around 8,000.

But as we’ve seen many times before, Blizzard stepped in. On September 9, Project Epoch’s developers revealed on Discord that multiple team members had received official cease-and-desist letters. Admin Kaytotes explained:

“In compliance, we are shutting down the services that we are able to, including the website. And we are ceasing any and all activity that could be construed as marketing, distribution, or support of Project Epoch, any emulated WoW servers and any WoW client software including any Project Epoch client software or ‘updates.’ We will not be involved with or operate private servers for any Blizzard or Activision games.”

The official website has already gone offline, and the team confirmed that there would be no relaunch under a different name or management.

If you’ve been following WoW’s history, none of this should come as a surprise. Blizzard has always taken a hard stance on rogue servers, citing copyright infringement as the main reason. Private servers reuse Blizzard’s client, lore, and in-game assets, which directly violates their rights — even when no money is being made. Beyond legal reasons, Blizzard also points to brand and security concerns, since buggy or unstable private servers could hurt the reputation of World of Warcraft.

The most famous case was Nostalrius back in 2016, which grew so influential that it ultimately inspired Blizzard to create WoW Classic. Servers like Elysium, Light’s Hope, Turtle WoW, and now Epoch all followed the same path, with varying lifespans but similar outcomes.