Re: [DL] Rant!

[Steve Peterson <steve@herogames.com>]

>   I must say I'm very disappointed with Cybergames.net
>handling of Pinnacle. For the product delays,
>cancellations,rescheduling and not supporting the web
>page.  I have always thought (and continue to do so)
>that the people at Pinnacle are top notch, but I now
>I'm a bit burned out by by all the Cybergame changes
>and I've yet to see one that's good.
>   I had hoped that the D20 deadlands book would have
>been published (Pinnacle could have struck while the
>iron was hot!) and I think it would have drawn more
>people into Pinnacle's great games.
>   I have lost a lot of enthusiasm with the delay of
>Lost Colony (and so have my players).
>   I remember the first year or so of Deadlands when we
>didn't see any new material and hope we don't return
>to those days.
>   Deadlands is a great game and I fear its demise (I
>hope I'm wrong) because us gamers are a fickle bunch
>and are always seeking new and fresh material. 
>   Having said all this,perhaps pinnacle has spoiled us
>in the past, with their great support and always
>willing to give us their ear. I think this has caused
>us to have a sense of loyalty towards Pinnacle and a
>more earnest desire to support this great game.
>Looking over errors in spelling and grammar (I know
>this is probable full of errors, but your not paying
>for it).
>   I will probable still buy Pinnacle's products, but
>unless things change, it will be will be with the
>extra money I have left over after buying other gaming
>products (still haven't pick up Collegium).  Because,
>unfortunatly I've lost my enthusiasm.
>                                    Horace Black


I'd like to clear up some misunderstandings about what's been going 
on with Pinnacle since its acquisition by Cybergames.com. We've been 
trying to make Pinnacle work at its best, and that's required (and 
continues to require) a lot of changes because of Pinnacle's 
situation at the time we acquired it.  We're trying to get the 
product line and the release schedule on an appropriate track, and to 
schedule an exciting lineup of new Deadlands products for the coming 
year. But this all has to be done with one eye on the bottom line, 
because if we can't put out products that are profitable, at some 
point there won't be any more products, which no one wants to see.

We're planning for a regular monthly release schedule in 2001 and 
beyond. The number of products depends to some extent on what the 
market will accept; retailers, distributors and customers will not 
necessarily buy as many products as you can possibly put out. (Marvel 
Comics learned this the hard way, putting out so many different X-Men 
comics and Spiderman comics every month that they lost much of their 
audience through sheer exhaustion!) We want to see Pinnacle producing 
the best Deadlands products it can, not the most Deadlands products 
it can produce.

There have been a lot of things going on behind the scenes that are 
just beginning to bear fruit. For instance, we are now featuring a 
number of Pinnacle e-books in our online store. These are older 
products that have been out of print for a while, and we've brought 
them back as inexpensive PDF files that you can read on screen or 
print out as you wish. We're working on a complete re-do of the 
Pinnacle web site, but that's a big task... there are many, many 
files on there, and a lot of material to organize. Check out the Hero 
Games web site (at www.herogames.com) to see what we've done with 
that so far.

We're planning more electronic products for Pinnacle, as well as 
continuing to support the paper products line. Oh, and the Great Rail 
Wars miniatures will be releasing from Emperors Choice soon, with 
some terrific new packaging (and some excellent pricing to go with 
them).

So there is a lot going on. I want to reassure Deadlands fans that 
Cybergames.com is committed  producing high-quality Deadlands 
products, and we'll continue to do so. Look for Waste Warriors to 
appear later this month. In a few weeks we'll announce our schedule 
of upcoming products, and as the year progresses we should be 
announcing things further in advance.

I appreciate all the support you've given Pinnacle in the past, and I 
hope you'll continue to have fun with Pinnacle products in the 
future. It's our intent to produce the best gaming products we can 
for your enjoyment.

-- Steve Peterson
VP, Product Development & Marketing, Cybergames.com