Patreon:
Twitch:
Discord:
Twitter:
#####
How big is the Map:
#####
DLC, or downloadable content, began many many years ago on mobile phones, but the first major video game to tap into the DLC market, was the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, by Bethesda.
This is the moment the DLC torrent began, we can all point at and blame horse armour for the situation we’re in now.
Many thanks to the Patrons and Twitch subs who support the channel!
Torie Orr
13.06.2023Some say its one of the 4 horses of the gaming apocalypse…
Sherky
13.06.2023Look how we evolved… now something like this would cost you at the very least 10$
Jezus Ziomowski
13.06.2023Great analyse!
Jakob
13.06.2023This still isn't Bethesda's fault though, people bought the DLC.
nomoremrriceguy
13.06.2023One point in defense of microtransactions price/value ratios…it could cost the company 10-20 cents per transaction for vendor costs so around 10% of that cost is mandatory to break even.
SativaBurns
13.06.2023"The 9th most downloaded oblivion dlc" 9 out of 9? Would horse again.
Hunter
13.06.2023its actually funny how this official DLC seeming to add protection to your horse will actually remove essential status from shadowmere, meaning she goes from being immortal to being killable
Rabbi Ezekiel Goldberg
13.06.20237:10 This may sound impressive, but it really means that, if we're counting Shivering Isles as a DLC, only one DLC sold even worse than it did.
Steven Armstrong
13.06.2023It sounds so ridiculous but I assumed it was $10ish. Just shows how susceptible we are to this nonsense that we let it grow so much.
ykh1992us
13.06.2023I think it's important to mention that after the horse armor DLC, the shivering isles DLC came out following a huge backlash on what was essentially a simple mod.
One more point, the article shown from 2011 stating horse armor DLC is still selling is probably due to Oblivion being sold bundled with all it's DLCs, including horse armor. This exaggerates sales figures, most likely.
lilo lero4
09.06.2023Sonic & knucles
Cass
09.06.2023As someone with only a passing interest in Oblivion, I assumed it was a horse armour PACK. As in, a bunch of armour options including the usual elven, glass, steel etc. All this time it was a SINGLE SET of armour for your horse? For $2.50??? No wonder it's such a meme.
Ashrun Zeda
09.06.2023Fallout really suffered the brunt of Bethesda's new policy for producing games. It is as if they are using the franchise as a testing tool to see the reactions of their consumers on their policy changes.
SwordOfOdin
09.06.2023it's super shitty, and although I played several hundred hours of oblivion, I never bought the horse armor (riding sucked anyway lol), but I think putting all the blame on Bethesda is a bit unfounded. If they hadn't done it first, it would have been another major game company. Was just a matter of time =/ What I do not understand is why people buy it, though.
Dorian Ertymexx
09.06.2023I never got the horse armor, and I hated the DLC-idea from the get go. Morrowind got free update stuff, but that ended with Oblivion. And now… well, now we are where we are. 😞
cdcdrr
09.06.2023"Damn you Bethesda, for inventing microtransactions!"
^ A guy who still spent 2,50 on horse armour.
Daniel
09.06.2023Man I owned this.
Boebie
09.06.2023"It went on to become the 9th best selling Oblivion DLC"
Pretty sure there was only 10 DLC packs released with Oblivion. This is such a weird way to phrase that it did well.
tarheelskk
09.06.2023I purchased horse armor but i never knew it actually didn’t provide a damage reduction!! They scammed me!!!
Ani Monarch
09.06.2023the guy who was not a fan of bathesda at that time i got in when skyrim came after that i played every elder scrolls title after seeing that horse i said glad i played gothic at that time
Hell on Earth - The History Of Warfare
08.06.2023DLC starts in 2005, with STAR WARS battlefront 2, by LucasArts and EA. which maps and heroes from battlefront 1 sold for battlefront 2, on xbox, splitting the playerbase.
in a game which sold 6 million copies by 2009 at which time oblvion had just 3.
Sorry josh. you missed that one.
Numa The Saint
08.06.2023people are stupid. (me included) aint nothing to be done about it. I can't wait for death. Nothing is better than eternal sleep.
Echo Trash
08.06.2023Ngl, but as a person who really loves horses, I don't think I'd mind paying 2.50 for horse armor skins. XD
Ray gunner
08.06.2023I don't blame Bethesda, if they didn't do it another company would have. If anything gamers who bought that horse armor should be ashamed for not having higher standards. When I saw horse armor I thought it was an insult because something like that could be just a free update.
Aatami
08.06.2023DLC isn't an infestation, IMO. I've bought tons of DLC that has added concrete and quality content to a game. Content that wouldn't have been ever feasibly made before the era of DLC. Age of Empires II and III, for instance, are good examples of this.
Not_a_cleverman
08.06.2023Nailed it on the head right here, this was the first instance I remember also.
Madrona Shchurika
08.06.2023This is slightly incorrect: The first DLC was the Kingmaker Premium module for Neverwinter Nights in 2004. Which is also its own issue as it required an 'authentication module' it wasn't very successful, and if you actually bought the premium modules they were only playable for a max of two years. Especially as authentication for the last module was only active for less than a month.
…And Bethesda even referenced the NWN modules in a retrospective as what influenced horse armor. Unfortunately, unlike the premium modules, horse armor was successful.
RememberElvisPresley
08.06.2023Missed opportunity to call the video 'The mother of all DLCs – Horse Armour".
flipflopzg
08.06.2023I really like your content, but only a philistine can call Daggerfall "a lot of nothing".
Kidneystone
08.06.2023man bethersda was always shit, Glad i never played none of it's games
dosduros
07.06.2023The strange thing is, even today, Morrowind and Oblivion are two of my favorite "open world" games.
I honestly believe it takes a great good to slip by a great evil.
bushikao
07.06.2023at least horse armor was actual content, instead of anti-content, aka content thats in your game but you can’t access it until you pay up…
Jessica Gray
07.06.2023I have no problem with minidlc content. If something is the same price as a one time consumable snack or treat at a gas station and gives me about that much enjoyment I'm cool with it
Ultralightaman
07.06.2023Don't forget MMORPG players buying and selling gold, items and characters
J. States
07.06.2023If you haven't caught on yet, gaming is a bigger industry in terms of $$$ than Hollywood now. Just like Hollywood is used for societal molding through subliminal messages and symbols, video games are being used for the same purposes. More and more games have subtle — or not so subtle — occultic references and themes. The DLC era is intended to move peoples' thinking in line with the One World Order and one of Schwab's basic tenets: that after the Great Reset we will own nothing and be happy. "Digital goods" is a step in that direction.
Kenneth Billings
07.06.2023Yep the let the floodgate of greed open.
Un1kum
07.06.2023I loved Oblivion when it came out and played it alot. I think it was even one of the last AAA games that I bought instead of "obtaining it without paying for it". But when they released the Horse Armour DLC I thought "What the fuck is this and why shall I pay money for something that I could make in a mod in an hour." and till today I am very proud of that thought.
The problem is that everyone knows that this stuff is crap that leads to more crap and most people knew it even 15 years ago but the same people knowing the problem, knowing the solution ignore the solution and sometimes this really makes me mad.
Everyone who buys cosmetics, who buys booster, who buys lootboxes, who buys ingame currency: Stop fucking complain about it. You loose EVERY right to complain about such stuff when you actively support it. Grow yourself some balls and act according to the things you want to see happening in the future.
And that is why I dont buy any AAA titles for years now. There are Indie Developer out there that I support that are not this fuckin greedy. That release finished games. That dont have ingame stores and they deserve that you pay money for their game not some company where you get the game for free but to actually play it pay thousends of dollars.
Damn even Riot Games where everyone says that they are the shining example for a freemium game company because you can play the game competitive without the risk of being overrun by some whale. But if you add up what the whole experience of the game with all the champions even without all of their skins cost you end up with a few thousand bucks. It is insane that people think this is great. So far have these companies already come with brainwashing consumers.
stapuft
07.06.2023title should have been "the story, behind the begining of the downfall of videogames"
not only the birth of DLC, but also the birth of microtransactions, and the birth of gaming's end…..if only IDIOTS didn't buy it THEN, we wouldn't be where we are currently…..
Craig Withee
07.06.2023What about buying racing cars and mechs on xbox live?
Andy Jacques
07.06.2023what kind of idiot bought this horse armor seriously…
MrVivi0001
04.06.2023So in conclusion , gamers have no one else to blame but themselves for the state of gaming today.
Femme Dracula
04.06.2023Horse Armor does actually increase your horse's HP, but you could just edit your horses to have more HP in the included editor if that's something you care about.
Horse Armor was similar to several free plugins Bethesda released for Morrowind, such as adding stores with AOE arrows, the Helm of Tohan, Entertainers, specially designed armor for women… All free.
Horse Armor was the 9th best selling DLC… out of 10.
Horse Armor also offered two entire assets – steel and elven armor.
Not sure what thought process led to Bethesda thinking horse armor was a great idea, but their later DLCs for Oblivion were an improvement, at least. Some of them. However, I don't think Horse Armor was a singular event leading to publisher excesses, I think if not this then something else from someone else instead.
StahliBoi
04.06.2023It was probably an unused asset that was ment to be an original feature.
Click
04.06.2023I absolutely adored Oblivion, when I first got my Xbox 360 I played Gears of War as my first game, got my ass kicked by the first enemy, got scared and then played LOTR BFME II and Oblivion, I put… multiple hundreds of hours into Oblivion and wanted every single pixel to have been stepped on and explored and when the DLCs came out I bought them all as soon as I could, with the exception of horse armour, still to this day when I look at it I get those good feeling vibes of Oblivion, something unexplored or unhad in the game but even with that I made my stand there to never buy it, even for £2.50 because even as a dumb teen I knew that this was not acceptable, I didn't full on HATE it like it was the single worst thing that had ever happened in gaming but I seen the path to where it would lead.
Its so bad now that people pay £5 for a lootbox that has a 3% chance of containing this horse armour and when they get it after spending £75 they say dumb shit like "WOW I GOT THE HORSE ARMOUR! I am so lucky!" I feel like now people are just there to be taken advantage of and I don't even care when people spent all their money on Diablo Immortal, Diablo Immortal is probably the most scummy, money grabby game to ever exist with its gambling style lootboxes, but it is, it absolutely IS our faults. We are the ones who have been paying the money for digital tat… this is where it would inevitably lead.
I feel like if McDonalds had a wheel spin to see if you would get ketchup on your burger people would be dumb enough to spin the wheel for 20p a chance, especially considering the potential to hit the rare jackpot to add another patty to your burger to upgrade it from a Hamburger to the now exclusive McDouble.
Albert
04.06.2023So Halo 2 wasn't a major game by a major company? I think I get what you mean though, DLC that is basically a quick asset flip. You just need to be more clear with your definition, because along with the title of the video, sounds rather broad and verging on click bait…
anonymous Citizen
04.06.2023I played through elder scrolls 3 and everything it had to offer. It was the last elder scrolls game I enjoyed. Everything after that was sht. Even the 4th installment was weak and killed the whole exploration/adventure vibe.
Craig Sullivan
04.06.2023You can still buy it for $2.49: https://marketplace.xbox.com/en-us/Product/Horse-Armor-Pack/00000000-0000-400c-80c0-0000425307d1
desu38
04.06.2023"the birth of DLC"
where total annihilation 🦧
Ian De Giovani
04.06.2023Gaming went downhill after this.
templargfx
04.06.2023What made Horse Armour even worse was that Oblivion came with the Creation Kit, the same tools used by the developers to make that horse armour and add it to the game. There was already mods out for Oblivion that added far more content (both assets and quests) for free. Yet people still purchased it in droves