Gamers still buying Horse Armour

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 17 March, 2011

Neigh way!

Gamers are still buying the Horse Armour add-on for sprawling fantasy role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda has revealed.

The nearly five-year-old DLC, originally priced at 200 Microsoft Points (£1.70), angered gamers for being a bit on the expensive side – all it added was, yes, horse armour.

Eurogamer's report on its release spawned over a hundred comments.

But despite the DLC being ancient, people are still buying it today.

"In one respect everything we've done has done well, including the much maligned horse armour," vice-president Pete Hines told OXM.

"I swear to you I don't have the report in front of me, but multiple people bought horse armour yesterday! For some inexplicable reason. It happened, I promise."

Hines' comments came as part of a discussion on the success of Bethesda's downloadable content for all its games. The upshot: if it's worth the cash, the people will come.

"So that [Horse Armour] sold, and Shivering Isles sold, and everything we did for Fallout 3 sold, so it's clear to us that what matters most is value - and whether it's value at the 10 dollar or 10 pound price point, or five pounds, or whatever it is, so long as it's good value, people will like it and buy it."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • OnlyMe #1 1 year ago

    This does not bode well for Skyrim, does it? :(

  • Cronan #2 1 year ago

    Bethesda, nickel and diming gamers since 1986.

  • ZuluHero #3 1 year ago

    I bought it yesterday as a dare...

    (not really)

  • handsonhips101 #4 1 year ago

    Oblivion destroyed my life. I expect skyrim to do the same.

  • GamesConnoisseur #5 1 year ago

    I think rather more a reflection on us the gamers and not Bethesda, as they openly acknowledged that this DLC is not as appreicated as the Shivering Island DLC by us the gamers.

    As in real world, people have a wealth of choice, still many buys Daily Mail, Seat Marbella and Horse Armour!!

  • Lunastra78 #6 1 year ago

    It's a well known fact of life that certain ill-advised drinking games consist of large amounts of alcoholic beverage, several prostitutes, a few meters of rope, vaseline, a couple of garden gnomes and buying horse armour.

  • Beek4257 #7 1 year ago

    "So that [Horse Armour] sold, ... so it's clear to us that what matters most is value, ... so long as it's good value, people will like it and buy it."

    Never thought I'd see Horse Armour and good value in the same sentence.

  • steve1979 #8 1 year ago

    Most of the DLC for Oblivion and Fallout was either pretty good or excellent. I expect the Skyrim DLC to be the samee.

  • bad09 #9 1 year ago

    You'd think that everyone would have wised up to DLC by now. I too believed the hype that DLC was a good thing back then (I even bought that horse armour not really knowing it done absolutely nothing) but the penny dropped very soon that DLC is a rip and just the skins and gubbings we would unlock for fun last gen.

    Now I rarely buy the crap outside of what you would call expansion packs last gen and it's a shame that people are still so happy to throw money at the cancer on gaming that is DLC but it's only gonna get worse as time goes on.

  • persus-9 #10 1 year ago

    Surely the lesson should be that value for money only matter down to a point and people will buy any old tat if the price is less than £2.

  • Dyason #11 1 year ago

    I own a [Horse Armour]

  • ZizouFC #12 1 year ago

    Oblivion still looks beautiful.

    Well, I think it does...
    Edited by ZizouFC at 17/03/11 @ 09:50

  • dagas #13 1 year ago

    I bet people would buy a turd if it was DLC for a game they liked. At least there are no achievements tied to it. I hate it when they release a bad DLC and you feel compelled to buy it just because you no longer have all the points in the game. I've stopped caring about that though. It just became to much when I found myself hating a game more and more because I was buying all the DLC and trying to get all the points. DLC and achievements have to some extent destroyed gaming. I feel like I can't even sell games in case I at some point in the future decides that I want more points out of Perfect Dark: Zero or Table Tennis.

  • HL706 #14 1 year ago

    wtf is wrong with the people that buy crap like that?

  • spookalilly #15 1 year ago

    That is the worst pun yet.

  • Whitster #16 1 year ago

    @dagas

    The worst offender for this is Harmonix, RB3 has achivements in the actuall game list, not expansion, that you can only get by beating downloaded songs. I had plenty of DLC on my 360 anyway from RB1/2, but MS should still put a pin in this kind of thing.

  • RobotRocker #17 1 year ago

    The worst offender for this is Harmonix, RB3 has achivements in the actuall game list, not expansion, that you can only get by beating downloaded songs. I had plenty of DLC on my 360 anyway from RB1/2, but MS should still put a pin in this kind of thing.

    Most of them were easy to get and based off the most popular DLC. And if you couldn't get the Dave Ghrol Band achievement, there is no hope for you anyway.

  • StooMonster #18 1 year ago

    dagas: I hate it when ... I've stopped caring about that though.

    So which is it? Do you hate it or don't care? ;)

    DLC certainly raises a range of emotions in gamers from hatred to love to indifference, perhaps it depends on the quality, or alternatively if one feels that the DLC should've been included in the game and has been ripped out simply to make a buck.

    Is Horse Armour the worst value for money DLC ... or are there worse example?

  • AaronTurner #19 1 year ago

    There's that horse that cost £20 or something in WoW.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #20 1 year ago

    So, dragon armor for Skyrim confirmed?

  • FortysixterUK #21 1 year ago

    Oblivion... came out FIVE years ago?......bloody hell, where does the time go ?....oh yes, playing Oblivion to completion 4 times would probably start the clock counting......**heads back to Might & Magic 7 which went up on GOG last week, another huge RPG that takes ages to finish **

  • pancibus #22 1 year ago

    buyers are gonna buy, players are gonna play, haters are gonna hate

  • BuddyChrist #23 1 year ago

    I totally want them to sell horse armour for Skyrim. Except this time it... Turns your horse into Pegasus, allows magic traits like water walking, speed increases, various defence protection....

    If Carlsberg did horse armour......

  • Singularity #24 1 year ago

    I only had a horse for about 5 minutes before it fell off a bridge. Would've been gutted if it had been wearing armour.

  • kinky_mong #25 1 year ago

    @Whister: You neglect to mention that the DLC achievements were in addition to the normal 1000 points, so they were effectively a DLC pack.

    If you're going to complain about anything moan about all the Pro instrument achievements that require you to buy really expensive instruments to get. Or just realise it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things and worry about something more important. Up to you really.

  • Dogs-not-Gods #26 1 year ago

    The day a game forces me to buy horse armour I'll get angry. Until then I'll leave people to make up their own mind about how they prioritise their cash. If horse armour makes you happy who am I to argue?

  • atomised #27 1 year ago

    i've decided now with all the rpgs to wait and wait and then wait for the game of the year editions.
    unlike say an online shooter where you do need to have a swell of people to shoot and stab in the back an rpg can just sit and wait until it a. becomes cheaper or b. comes with a load of extra stuff.

    i do love the ol' oblivion, fallout, mass effect etc but the goy editions shit on my first dayer, even with the gold coin n' map to keep me company.

    and by the time of the goy ed we'll have worked out the good from the bad...mind but don't everyone do this as it will spoil my grand plan ;) (all grand plans aside did the goy oblivion come with the horsey armour?)
    Edited by atomised at 18/03/11 @ 02:04

  • The_Inquisitor #28 1 year ago

    Just goes to show, no matter what the reasonable opinion is of its value is, as a business decision... it was a bloody good one.

  • Tryhard #29 1 year ago

    I bought the Mage tower for my newly created mage a few weeks back.Cause he's worth it.

  • Raconteur #30 1 year ago

    "I swear to you I don't have the report in front of me, but multiple people bought horse armour yesterday! For some inexplicable reason. It happened, I promise."

    Multiple = 2 (probably)

    Not sure who is more surprised. Him or me.

  • mungolikebeans #31 1 year ago

    It's in our nature to but add-ons.

    Alloy wheels for cars, extensions for houses, some decals for mobile phones....etc, tattoos for pornstars etc

    It always has been and always will be.

    DLC is the same thing.

  • chrisola #32 1 year ago

    i'm playing Oblivion on the PS3 at the moment...back in the day it was too much for my PC to handle so i gave up half way through. Seems it runs the same \ slightly better on the PS3 as it did on my min spec PC -- it does look good though, especially the water effects and that

  • Lusterpurge #33 1 year ago

    I guess I got the Horse Armor pack since I have the GotY edition of Oblivion. I'm still trying to figure out which horse I want to wear the armor.

    I found a unicorn and rode it to the stable. Then I tried putting the armor on my unicorn but it wouldn't let me. Then my unicorn attacked and nearly killed me. Then I cut my unicorn into tiny pieces. Now I'm back on Prior Maborel's paint horse.

  • Soton4084 #34 1 year ago

    Shivering Isles was excellent, as were the Fallout 3 DLC packs (the ones which actually worked and didn't freeze my PS3 constantly like Point Lookout did...). I also commend Rockstar games for setting the benchmark when it comes to DLC, as their expansion packs for GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption have been excellent in my opinion.

    But add on packs such as horse armour and the downloadable armour and weapons for Mass Effect 2 PS3 (which should have been included in the 'complete' version), really annoy me.

  • Tryhard #35 1 year ago

    Yeah Shivering Isles set a very high bar for DLC.

  • Daikon #36 1 year ago

    Did anyone even ride horses in Oblivion? I just ran or used fast travel...

  • Xboxfanuk #37 1 year ago

    People buy it because they want to collect all the bits for their game. At least it's not like Dragon Age where their expansion totally undoes all your work in the main game. Horse armour is nothing compared to the rubbish being peddled by today's games. Look at Fable III.

  • peterfll #38 1 year ago

    And in other news "there's one born every minute"

    ;)

  • metallicorphan #39 1 year ago

    the horse armour is the only DLC i didn't buy for Oblivion

  • DirectAim #40 1 year ago

    I can't wait for dragon armour, I can complain about prices and the fact that DLC is a rip off but as soon as skyrim gets dragon armour I'm buying it, fuck the price lol

  • kruelaid #41 1 year ago

    skyrim more like skyrim-job