Or possibly it's been a done deal for weeks or months, and they were deliberately keeping it under their hats for 'wham' value.

...Granted, I'd've waited to confirm it until the new books were on the shelves, but it's possible I take too many cues from Bungie. ^_^

What I really notice, personally, is the date of 3015, which strikes me as a far less irritating way of getting back to basic gameplay than the ClickyTech 'Dark Age' backstory.