Hi! Been a lurker here for a while but had a question that was concerning me and wanted to draw on the knowledge of the people here.

Has there been a cycle announced after Red Sands? I ask because with previous cycles the first data pack or 2 were generally announced in the midst of the release of the current cycle. Now Red Sands is almost done and no word of the next one.

Am I missing something?

Thank you

Not yet. It's a bit odd, maybe they want to sell it in advance at gen con and are waiting until it's closer to announce what it will be, so it will be a bigger splash.

it's 100% confirmed to exist, though, Boggs has mentioned it in interviews.

Thank you for your reply, Grimwalker. I feel a bit better knowing there at least seems to be something in the works

It's really concerning to me that this is also the set that is supposed to kick off rotation.

I heard someone drop a hint that they are not doing a normal set of data packs but instead doing a Starter set 2.0, which could be good if done right (IMHO cleaning up a bunch of the cards currently on the MWL) but it could also go really wrong.

I would rather see a great new Data pack set. Time will tell.

The Core Set 2.0 rumors are independent of the next cycle of Data Packs. We don't have a lot of hard information, but--

A) they would want to have Core 2.0 out before rotation occurs i.e. before pack 8.1 comes out, and

B) seems like the kind of major step they would announce or debut close to, say, Gen Con.

So no evidence for sure, but the circumstances look like what we'd see if it were true.

Those are interesting rumors. I would definitely prefer them to just continue with the data packs. It is odd thinking that even if they announce something now it will be months before it is in print.

It's especially concerning given the rotation thing, seems like it won't happen for a long time.

I check the front page here every day but just see more Star Wars games and LOT5R stuff so I hope netrunner is not being thrown on the back burner

TL;DR-- I wouldn't worry, this is probably all just Marketing having to work around Gen Con with their product announcements.

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The data packs will continue, for sure. I honestly don't expect this to impact the total product release timeline to a huge degree. What they've announced publicly and what's in the production pipeline are entirely separate.

I'm cautiously optimistic, and hopeful, about Core 2.0. I guess I would say it's more likely than not at this point, but neither outcome would shock me at this point.

If it's real, what I think is the most likely scenario is that Core 2.0 has already been sent to the printer, and they'll announce it--and have it for sale--at Gen Con, possibly along with the first pack in the Eighth Cycle. Then Core 2.0 and Data Pack 8.1 will essentially ship together, and be available for retail sometime around late September. And since Crimson Dust is looking like an August release, that puts everything pretty much back on schedule. Even if Core 2.0/8.1 don't arrive until October, an extra month here and there is hardly unusual over the game's lifespan, and it still puts the rotated metagame in place for World Championships, which is really the only salient point of timing worth even considering.

Core 2.0 doesn't necessarily have to be a huge deal from a print quantity/sales perspective either. The whole concept is that it's comprised of the Greatest Hits from Core 1, Genesis, and Spin, so the existing playerbase doesn't need to spend a penny, they just put some core set cards into the shoebox under the bed when rotation happens, and leave some G/S cards right where they are. It's purely so that new players get a better point-of-entry into the game going forward.

And, if Core 2.0 happens to be a pipe dream, then they're probably just going to go ahead and sell 8.1 at Gen Con, and they're holding the announcement so that when people see it in the FFG booth they're not going to say "pfft big deal I heard about this a month ago I'll buy it when I get home."

Good points. I had not thought about what Core 2.0 would entail

There's been a rumor milling around that Princess Space Kitten will be taking over netrunner for about 23 seconds sometime pretty soon.