Wednesday, September 29, 1999

Blacksburg, VA and Ontario, CA

Since Alderac joined with Pinnacle, the plan has been to relocate the Virginia staff of Pinnacle to the offices of Alderac in Ontario, California. Times change, and the Virginia staff has decided not to relocate, forcing the companies to split on very amicable terms.

"Being with AEG has been a great experience," said Shane Hensley, CEO of Pinnacle. "It's been a great two years. But we're ready to start on some new projects, and the difference in geography, time zones, and duplication of staff, has made it prohibitive. AEG also has its hands full with Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea. By splitting the companies back into their original pies, we can better accommodate the directions each company is moving in."

Pinnacle's President, Matt Forbeck, whose hit-game Brave New World debuted this summer, has already relocated to his hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin. So that he can concentrate on this incredible new game, Brave New World will remain in production out West, and bear the Alderac Entertainment Group logo sometime near the end of the year. Matt Forbeck said, "I wouldn't trade the last four years for the world. But now that I'm in Wisconsin to write, I can't do the production work anymore. And Pinnacle has its hands full with all the various Deadlands projects, so we all decided it would be best if Brave New World remained with Alderac."

"This does mean a temporary delay in some of our larger projects, such as Grim Crusade," said Shane. "We have to arrange all new deals for casting miniatures, make sure that all the adjustments in personnel, accounting, and shipping are in place, and generally prepare to take on all the duties that our friends at AEG have handled for the past two years."

For now, distributors and business relations should continue dealing with the Pinnacle West staff. Information about demo teams, billing and shipping addresses, distributor terms, and so forth, will be forthcoming as Pinnacle East re-hires its staff in October to November, 1999. The changes should be in place by the beginning of the New Year.

As a side-note to this news, this will be the last month that New Horizons will cover Pinnacle properties and news. Pinnacle will be handling their own publicity from here on as well.