Five Theories About Core 2.0
I’ve gone on record here as saying I think a new Android: Netrunner core set is an inevitability, and that it was playtested as long as a year ago by playtesters. I fully anticipated an announcement or maybe even an early release of this by Fantasy Flight at GenCon this past weekend, but no dice. FFG frustratingly did not announce anything new about Netrunner, though many people who talked to Michael Boggs, myself included, were assured that something is on the way.
I still think that thing is Core 2.0, but now I’m curious why we haven’t heard anything about it through official channels. Damon playtested it, I believe Michael continued playtesting it to some degree, but it still hasn’t been revealed/announced yet. What are the potential reasons? I’ll go through four (technically five) of them here.
1. Core 2.0 Does Not Exist and Never Did
This seems to be a preferred opinion by a few people on Reddit, who seem to enjoy downvoting anything I say to the contrary. It’s wrong. Don’t listen to the Netrunner birthers, they’re clueless.
2. FFG Doesn’t Want to Ban Cards
We know that the Most Wanted List exists, at least in part, because of a company-wide predilection to avoiding ban/restricted lists. Core 2.0, if it happens, would remove a great number of cards from the card pool, while also maintaining a number of Core set cards and Genesis/Spin cards. And creating new product for them to market and sell. But, it still involves getting rid of old cards for a current game -- unlike the Game of Thrones reboot, the original core sets would still be legal cards, presumably, but people who owned them would now have a number of cards that weren’t legal to play. FFG could still be reticent to pull the trigger on that.
There has been some clarification recently that the Asmodee merger has led to some big structural changes for FFG, and I assumed that this meant that there were interruptions in the game’s management/design. Their emphasis right now is on Legend of the Five Rings, clearly, and the potential cash cow that is Star Wars Destiny. Netrunner has fallen down to third or fourth most important LCG status, and they may have just not leveraged the resources yet to get this done. Additionally, with Damon’s (rather fast?) departure and Michael’s hiring, there is bound to be lag time in product releases as that transition gets settled. Red Sands was designed and at the printers when Damon quit, and so we are probably facing a development hiccup here as well from almost a year ago.
4. A New Core Set Is a Whole New Product
This one just came to me this morning, and might actually be the most plausible. We know that FFG has licensed Netrunner from Wizards of the Coast, who still own the IP (unlike L5R, which was purchased by FFG/Asmodee). As a consequence, many of the decisions around the game require WotC approval. We know that this was the case originally and seems to still be the case, leading to occasional delays due to communication hiccups between the companies. I remember draft packs (including Mumbad cards) were held up at Worlds 2015 pending Wizards approval.
So, here’s the new idea: What do we really know about the licensing agreement? If Wizards has to approve all new Netrunner product, how specific was that worded in the original agreement? A new core set and rotation were never considered during the original design, apparently, and perhaps was not accounted for in the original licensing agreement. In other words, if their ongoing licensing agreement states something like “Wizards of the Coast will need to give approval for all new Android: Netrunner content, such as datapacks and deluxe expansions,” does it even cover a new Core set? Would that require a new renegotiation of their licensing agreement? I have no idea, but it seems like it could be a possibility, and one that would provide some potentially long delays while lawyers work out the details.
Given the disastrous relationship Asmodee/FFG had with Games Workshop (which led to the very sudden death of Warhammer Conquest), I can imagine that this would take some time.
5. Core 2.0 Is Secretly Being Printed Right Now
