The Witcher 3 Remastered PS5 Pays Homage to the Worst DLC in History
CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 remaster for PS5 includes a tongue-in-cheek reference to one of gaming’s most infamous DLC examples: horse armour for the player’s horse, Roach. The inclusion appears to be a deliberate homage to Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which infamously offered cosmetic horse armour as paid DLC for $2.50 upon its 2006 release.
The Oblivion horse armour has become a cultural touchstone for poorly conceived DLC practices, serving as a cautionary tale about monetising cosmetic items that offer no gameplay value. Despite becoming synonymous with wasteful DLC spending across the decades, the practice has apparently influenced the broader gaming industry minimally—with many modern studios continuing similar cosmetic monetisation strategies through various cosmetic and battle pass systems.
The Witcher 3’s remaster, arriving on PlayStation 5, demonstrates how the gaming industry continues to reference this moment of excess. By including horse armour as content, CD Projekt Red appears to be making a self-aware comment on DLC practices and gaming culture’s relationship with cosmetic spending, positioning the feature as a wry callback to gaming history rather than a serious monetisation avenue.