Due to failures in marketing and design, Sunset World Online did not live up to its expectations and never made enough money, or reached enough promising goals in order to justify or fund its servers. So, since the game is unplayable in "offline mode", it will be retired from Steam in order to avoid tricking new players into downloading an unsupported game.
This does not mean the game is gone forever, it will, hopefully, return in a better shape and form, with more content that fits its age and especially more funding for its initial marketing burst. an MMORPG such as Sunset World Online can not live in the current market due to the fact that not enough players gather for an expedition. This end is common to many games out there which rely on matchmaking capabilities.
More than anyone else I was devastated by this decision, I've worked night and day, 14 hours a day, no weekends, no sick days on my saving to get this game out there, following a dream I had from my youth, of creating the successor to Maplestory. This is only one out of many dreams shattered along the way, but it's how you get up and out of things in life that makes you successful, eventually, or so I've heard.
Well, I hope I will one day return to this game, into which I've poured my heart and soul,
And when that time will come, someday, sometime, I'd hope to see you there too.
