Reader Matthew asked Nintendo Costumer Service about why digital games cost the exact same as in the stores. This is the response he got...

Thank you for contacting us. I can certainly understand your thoughts regarding games being sold at the full retail price on the Nintendo eShop. I need to let you know that at this time we do not have any information as to why this decision may have been made, nor have their been any announcements to suggest that the price of the games may be reduced in the future. I know you were hoping for more information, and I appreciate your understanding. I also want to assure you that your comments have been forwarded as feedback on this subject, and made available to other departments at the company to use as they see fit. While I can't guarantee that we may reduce the price of the games in the future, we do take all feedback into consideration.


As you mentioned the digital copies of the games don't include a game manual, I wanted to let you know that ever game downloaded from the Nintendo eShop does include a digital manual available directly through the system itself. We also have manuals available as a free download for a number of our games on our website:


http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/manuals/index.jsp