"You Lost Fans": Blizzard Shut Down Unofficial World of Warcraft Server - Russian Gamer Criticizes Company's Policy
Some Russian players have announced a boycott of Blizzard.
Blizzard Entertainment lawyers this summer filed a lawsuit against the creators of the unofficial World of Warcraft server "Project Ascension" (or Ascension WoW). They accused the developers of copyright infringement, as well as using protected trademarks and profiting from it.
Among other things, they insisted on using the "RICO Act," which is aimed at combating organized crime and is designed to prosecute entire organizations.
It recently became known that the creators of Project Ascension reached an agreement with Blizzard — the servers will close on September 4. The developers published an appeal to the community:
It's been almost 10 years since Ascension's WoW servers launched, and this chapter is coming to an end. All Ascension's WoW servers will be shut down on September 4, 2026.
Support will be available until the very last day before the shutdown. The developers will release all remaining content, and after the servers close, the team will switch to a new project unrelated to WoW or any Blizzard games:
By the closing date, all WoW-related content will be removed from the website and all Ascension social media. After all WoW content is removed, the Ascension.gg domains, social media accounts, and launcher will be used for a new project.
Some fans, including those from Russia, reacted to the shutdown. An open letter from a player went viral in the World of Warcraft community. A certain subsnakee (Ilya) addressed Blizzard Entertainment.
He recalled how the developers left Russia and also admitted that the lawyers were formally right in this case. However, Ilya opposes such a policy:
I have no illusions. I perfectly understand: formally you are right. WoW is your intellectual property. This is not debatable. Yes, Ascension violated the law by monetizing your world. But behind the dry legal formulations and profit margins are people. People who love this world. People who need an alternative — free from your dictatorial rules, from your narrow corporate vision, from Blizzard itself. Know this: many [players from Russia] openly stated that they would never spend another cent on Activision Blizzard games. We may not be a million, but we exist. And I fully stand in solidarity with everyone who maintains this boycott. You didn't just lose users. You lost your fans. You won the court. You protected your assets. You wiped the server to dust. But in your pursuit of legal sterility and corporate convenience, you once again proved a simple, bitter truth: cold metrics and easy targets will always be more important to you than the players who breathe life into this game.
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