Bethesda's Horse Armour DLC for Oblivion Sold "Millions" Despite Huge Backlash

It might sound a bit outdated for news articles to talk about something from nearly two decades ago, unless it is meaningful as history classes. An event from 18 years ago might still teach us something nowadays. 

Back in March of 2006, Bethesda released action RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which received universal acclaim until a month later, when the developer decided to do a bit of experiment with it. The release of the Horse Armour DLC, despite a cost of $2.50, splashed huge waves in the community than a $70 game would do right now. 

When recalling the company's reaction to the backlash, Bruce Nesmith, the then Oblivion systems designer, who later worked as the lead designer for Skyrim, told VideoGamer that “both Bethesda and Microsoft were caught flat-footed at the response to it, [we] did not anticipate that at all." 

Players had such a strong negative reaction because paid content for video games was new at the time, and Nesmith believes that "Bethesda...was the very first company to do downloadable content expansions.”

Thanks to archived webpages, we still can peak at how angry and disappointed players had been towards this paid content. "It's kinda like selling someone a chicken, and then coming back and saying that the bones would be extra," one player said. Another player's comment showed what they thought about a phenomena that's not surprising today: "I think this is RIDICULOUS! Why does everything have to be about scraping another dollar from a consumer."

Obviously, the shivering developer couldn't have high hopes for the sales of this controversial content, as it was clear that "that’s not what people wanted and that we basically thumbed our nose at them without realizing it. " But in the end, the sales number told a different story.

Although Nesmith can't remember the accurate amount, he said it had been sold "millions." This was a "head shaker" for the developer at that time, something they couldn't really figure out, yet the conclusion is there: "you’re all making fun of it and yet you buy it.”

Do you believe this would teach today's players and developers a lesson? Let us know. Read the full interview by VideoGamer here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.