3D isn’t always better than 2D. After releasing in the West in 2018, and in South Korea in 2015, MapleStory 2 is shutting down on May 27. Purchases made through the Nexon Launcher or Nexon website from December 11 last year (12am PST) to March 18 (8am PDT) will be fully reimbursed in Nexon’s NX currency.

It seems that the MMO sequel failed to live up to fans’ expectations, with the development team acknowledging that they wouldn’t be able to improve the game sufficiently despite their efforts. This also means that there’s a low chance of Asian publishers like Garena to distribute the game in Southeast Asia.

“We are forever grateful for your patience and dedication to MapleStory 2 as we tried to rework the game starting with Project New Leaf, but ultimately we’ve decided that we will not be able to provide the type of service that would live up to your expectations,” they wrote in an announcement. “We took a hard look at the current state of the game and its future roadmap, and sadly reached the conclusion that it would be difficult to maintain long-term continuation of the game while remaining true to what made MapleStory 2 your MapleStory 2.”

As Gamasutra notes though, the original MapleStory from 2003 remains online.

With MapleStory 2 shutting down, it means that those in Asia won’t get to try the game themselves (except for those who’ve been using VPNs to do so all this while). While the 3D sequel must’ve been a real disappointment to meet such a fate, that’s still a bummer.