Oblivion fans are going to need a couple of 1600 MS point cards come March 27th as that is the newly announced release date for The Elder Scrolls IV's first and last expansion pack, which has the dubious honor of being the single most expensive download in the Live Marketplace: The price was revealed yesterday in a post on elderscrolls.com's forums, to be 2400 Microsoft Points, or roughly $30.
The price is in no way outrageous since Morrowind's two expansions, Bloodmoon and Tribunal, both debuted at $30 and Shivering Isles is also the most substantial update to ever appear on a console. However, I do think that since it is only available as a download for 360 owners the price should be slightly lower, say $25.
The idea of paying the same price for a download as you do for a retail game with a box, disc, manual etc., has never sat well with me. It really makes no sense at all. If there is no physical costs associated with the game, no shipping from a warehouse to a store, no margin for retail profit, then that savings should be passed on to the customer who is no longer receiving anything tangible. They could easily lower the price of the download and still make the same profit or more as they are on the $30 retail box.
This is something publishers are going to have to address if they expect digital delivery to take off as a viable alternative. If a games costs $60 in the store, why would you pay $60 for a download that you're not going to have a box or manual for?
Source: Oblivion gets Shivering Isles this month - Gamespot
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