The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is out, and garnering critical acclaim and great sales.
At the beginning of the week, Bethesda (the game’s developer) announced a series of paid downloadable add-ons to the game, the first of which is some armour for the game’s virtual horses. This turned out to be quite the controversy - one place I saw the announcement clocked up over 400 comments.
Though I’m not normally one to comment on the business side of games, the uncharted territory that Bethesda has waded into seems particularly fertile and worth trying to map out. Will their discoveries usher in a utopia of more game content for all and more money for developers? Or a dystopia of unfinished games and paid patches?