The owner ended up coming back but there was a situation where a developer's gone unpaid and betrayed the server, it's a mess right now unfortunately and has cut the playerbase by about 50%(there's currently 31 online) and the servers currently without a developer. The owner is trying to set things right but I dont think this was a cash grab, the owner from everything I've seen is upside down big time financially.
I think there were definitely some mistakes made in terms of monetization and developer costs and staffing, as-well as 1 of the co-owners is like a silent partner as-well, and with only 1 public facing owner and a whole lot of staff drama coupled with 3rd world gold farmers and RWTers, and multi accounting, it's made things a mess.
This server still has some life left in it though, but things seem pretty rough right now. The bottom line though is it's really the only 2006 era server on the market, everyone wanting 04/05 is on Lost City and everyone wanting 07 went to later dated servers, I think that's what's keeping it alive right now, if another 06 era server comes along it's gonna be rough.
We'll see if the owner decides to double down and invest even more into this to breathe new life into it or if He decides to sell it or abandon it or reset it and try again with some changes, I will say though, the owner is passionate about the era and the server to his credit IMO.