Elder Scrolls Online – Pre-Orders are now available

Pre-orders for the Elder Scrolls Online have just been made available. Zenimax and Bethesda have broken the news, and it seems players will be able to choose from both retail and digital versions for the PC, while having retail-only versions for consoles.

Let’s take a look at the digital versions first. Two versions are now available: a Standard Digital edition, which will will contain the Explorer pack (a 5 days Early Access card, the ability to play any race in any alliance, a Scuttler Vanity pet and some extra treasure maps), as well as a 30 day subscription period, and a Digital Imperial Edition that includes all of the above, plus some nifty extras. Elder Scrolls Online’s Imperial Edition will grant players access to Imperial armors and will allow players to play as an Imperial. This means that you can dress the part, having access to distinct Imperial crafting options and to a feature that will allow you to transform regular gear into Imperial gear. In addition, players pre-ordering this package will get a faster Imperial white horse mount, the Rings of Mara (which provide you and a friend with some bonus XP while questing together) and a Mudcrab pet.

Prices for the two won’t be exactly cheap. The Standard Edition will cost $55/€55, while the Imperial Edition will set you back $79.99/€79.99. This means that Europeans will have to spend considerably more for the Elder Scrolls Online.

On to the physical retail editions, where the same applies, more-or-less. The same two versions will be available for consoles and the PC alike, with the mention that console versions won’t have the 5-day early access included. A Collector’s Edition will also be made available at a later time, and while there’s no indication of the actual price, rumors have it it will cost around $149.99, based on retailers. The Collector’s Edition will feature all the above-mentioned goodies, as well as a 224-page album guide of Tamriel, a 12″ statue of Molag Bal and a unique map of Tamriel and Cyrodiil.

The PC and Mac versions are set for a 4th of April release, with early access most likely starting on the 31st of March. The Playstation 4 and Xbox One versions of the Elder Scrolls Online will see the light of day sometime in June, but most likely without an early access period. The game will also run on a subscription-based model, which will cost $15 each month. Sony has officially announced that Elder Scrolls Online won’t require a Playstation Plus sub in addition to the game’s subscription plan. The same cannot be said about Microsoft though.

Are you planning on pre-ordering the Elder Scrolls Online? If so, do you think the extra features in the Imperial Edition are worth the cost?