Fantasy Flight Games’ cult hit card game Android: Netrunner will end after the current set of cards is released in October, the studio has announced. The game is ending due to the expiration of Fantasy Flight Games’ licensing agreement with Wizards of the Coast.
Android: Netrunner was a 2012 reboot of the 1996 Richard Garfield card game Netrunner, originally published by Wizards of the Coast. Android: Netrunner uses an asymmetrical game structure to pit one player, a cyberpunk corporation, against another, a lone hacker—or Netrunner—trying to foil their nefarious plans. Fantasy Flight Games’ current plans for the last set of the game, Reign and Reverie, as well as the final world championship competition, will continue as previously announced.
The news comes as a shock to many of the game’s players, as Fantasy Flight only recently released a revised core set of cards. Android: Netrunner used a living card game format, where all cards were available in every set, rather than the randomized pack format of many collectible card games.
The lead developer, Michael Boggs, announced in a post on the game’s website that he felt a mixture of “sadness, confusion, and nostalgia” when he was first told the game was ending. Boggs expressed sadness for the game’s quite rabid community, saying that Android: Netrunner “was unique in its theme and mechanics, sure, but its true specialty came from the people around it. I hope and believe the community will keep it alive for years to come.”
Fantasy Flight Games will completely cease sale of the game on October 22nd, 2018. Snap up any card sets you might want before then.
