Steam ban leaves indie horror game on brink of failure

Indie horror game, HORSES, has been denied a release on Steam, and Italian developers at Santa Ragione are fearing it could mean the end of their studio.

HORSES is described as a roughly three-hour narrative experience. It follows a young man who takes on a summer job caring for horses at a mysterious farm. The man soon realizes they aren’t actually horses, but naked adult humans wearing horse head masks.

As a horror experience, it employs “grotesque, subversive imagery to confront power, faith, and violence,” as devs have detailed.

After multiple years in development, and approximately $100,000 invested into the project, devs are now nearing its December 2 release. However, having been banned from Steam, they’re fearing the end of their studio.

Steam bans horror game HORSES

The eerie black and white horror game was first submitted on Steam back in June 2023, devs explained in a lengthy Q&A published on their website. At that time, they were notified HORSES would not be approved for release on Valve’s platform.

As for why, developer Pietro Righi Riva claimed ‘no specific details’ were provided. “For two years, we asked for clarifications and a path to compliance, but we were directed to Steam’s general guidelines, and our requests for review and appeal were denied over and over.

“In our case, they simply stated they could not legally distribute HORSES, without clarifying why.”

Other video game distribution platforms like GOG and the Humble Store, seemingly took no issue. For the Epic Games Store, devs were asked to change featured images on the store page as to avoid nudity. The developers quickly obliged.

The horror game developers have allegedly tried everything to get their game approved on Steam, as they told IGN – that includes offering to change any content “deemed unfit.”

However, a lack of clarity from Steam has led to today, where the game has been blocked on the biggest PC gaming platform of them all.

“Games are an artistic medium and lawful works for adults should remain accessible, Riva said. “We respect players enough to present the game as intended and to let adults choose what to play; lawful works should not be made unreachable by a monopolistic storefront’s opaque decisions.”

Having invested a six-figure sum into the development of HORSES, the team is naturally concerned about its future given the lack of Steam support. It would need to sell “tens of thousands of copies” outside of Steam in order to break even, devs have said.