The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Horse Armor DLC
| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2006 |
| Product Type | Video Games, Downloadable Content (DLC) |
| In Production | No |
| Official Website | |
Bethesda Game Studios' Horse Armor Pack, otherwise known as the Oblivion Horse Armor DLC, was downloadable content released in 2006 for the studio's popular open-world fantasy video game The Elder Scolls IV: Oblivion. It included two sets of horse armor that a player's horse could wear for cosmetic purposes, both Elven and Steel versions.
The DLC was released on April 3rd, 2006, for the XBOX 360 via the XBOX Live Marketplace platform, priced at 200 Marketplace points (or $2.50 USD at the time).[1] It would later get a PC release as well, priced at $1.99 USD.[2]
Consumer-impact summary
[edit | edit source]The Horse Armor Pack is often regarded as the first substantial microtransaction, With Bethesda having been the first third party publisher to partner with Microsoft to sell one on the XBOX Live platform.[2]
Incidents
[edit | edit source]Consumer backlash on release (April 2006)
[edit | edit source]Upon release, the Horse Armor Pack faced backlash from fans of the game. The primary concern was that the price of the DLC (200 did not reflect the value of what it was truly worth, particularly as compared to the value fans had gotten from the base game for its own price.[2]
Executives and former employees of Bethesda have weighed in on the issue since it became a point of discussion and recurring internet meme. In a 2019 interview with IGN, the studio's game director Todd Howard explained how the price point had risen to $2.50 USD:
Horse armor is not bad; I think horse armor is fine. The price point at the time was the issue. Xbox, they were doing themes. Ringtones were big at the time. Ringtones were just crushing it for Nokia or whoever…We felt, "Well it's probably worth this [amount]." I won't say who at Microsoft, but they said, "Well, that's less than we sell a theme for. A wallpaper is more than that. You should charge this [amount]. You can always lower it." We're like...OK.[3]
Bruce Nesmith, the lead designer for Bethesda's 2011 title The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (a sequel to Oblivion), reflected on consumer reactions to the release of the Horse Pack Armor in a 2024 interview with Videogamer:
Both Bethesda and Microsoft were caught flat-footed at the response to it, [we] did not anticipate that at all. Only in hindsight could it be seen that that’s not what people wanted and that we basically thumbed our nose at them without realizing it. So, part of the Horse Armour story is you’re going to make mistakes when you’re the first one in the water on something like that.[4]
Despite consumer backlash, the DLC was very successful, as Nesmith recounted, "It must have been [sold] in the millions, it had to be millions...And that was kind of a head shaker for us: you’re all making fun of it and yet you buy it."[4] The DLC's success therefore validated Microsoft's microtransaction hypothesis as an early proof of concept, solidifying the Horse Armor Pack as a precursor for a new trend among game publishers in the decades to follow.
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Tim Surette (4 Apr 2006). "Oblivion horse armor is now available". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2026. Retrieved 18 Sep 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Mike Williams (11 Oct 2017). "The Harsh History Of Gaming Microtransactions: From Horse Armor to Loot Boxes". VG247. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2026. Retrieved 18 Sep 2026.
- ↑ Joseph Knoop (7 Jun 2019). "Bethesda's Todd Howard Doesn't Regret Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's Horse Armor DLC – IGN Unfiltered". IGN. Archived from the original on 19 Sep 2026. Retrieved 19 Sep 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lewis White (16 Oct 2024). "Oblivion Horse Armour dev looks back on hated DLC – "We had no idea what we were doing"". Videogamer. Archived from the original on 19 Sep 2026. Retrieved 19 Sep 2026.