Indie studio Santa Ragione said it is at risk of shutting down as its latest project won’t be available on Steam, which is by far the biggest storefront for PC games and a key point of sale for many developers.Horses, a first-person horror game that blends gameplay and live-action sequences, is about a college student who spends a summer working on a farm. However, the farmS “horses” are actually naked human adults who are wearing horse masks.It’s clear from the trailer that this is a game for grownups.
The studio plans to release Horses on the Epic Games Store, GOG.com, and Itch.io, but Santa Ragione fears this won’t be enough to keep the lights on. “We are a small studio and Steam is essential for us,” the studio said in a statement. “Without it, we are not sure we can survive.” The studio is asking fans to wishlist the game on the Epic Games Store to help boost visibility and potentially save the studio.
Steam Rejects “Horses” After Allegations of Depicting Sexual Conduct Involving a Minor
Valve has rejected the game horses from being published on Steam, leading to accusations of censorship from the developer, Santa Ragione. According to PC Gamer, Valve stated the game “might not fall within our guidelines,” and after review, informed the developer they could not ship the game due to onboarding rules and guidelines. A subsequent request for reconsideration was also denied.
Santa Ragione, in an FAQ, argues that Horses is “committed to producing challenging, adult storytelling” and uses “grotesque, subversive imagery to confront power, faith, and violence.” They criticize “subjective obscenity standards” and believe censorship of lawful adult works is a concerning trend.
The ban follows recent restrictions on adult-oriented games due to payment processor concerns. santa Ragione initially sought to create a Steam page in 2023 to generate interest, but Valve requested a playable build. The studio quickly assembled a version with “tons of placeholders” to comply.
However,an email from Valve to the developer alleges the game was banned due to “content that appears,in our judgment,to depict sexual conduct involving a minor.” Santa Ragione disputes this claim.
Steam Ban Threatens Closure of horses Developer Santa Ragione
The recent ban of the indie game Horses from Steam has placed developer Santa Ragione in a precarious financial situation, potentially leading to the studio’s closure. The studio claims the game is “not pornographic” and is struggling to recoup its $100,000 development investment following Valve’s decision.
Santa Ragione initially self-funded $50,000 of Horses’ development after signing a deal with creator Andrea Lucco Borlera. The studio had hoped to recover these costs through sales of its previous title, Saturnalia, but the game underperformed expectations. A planned bundle featuring Horses also fell through concurrently with Steam’s rejection of the game.
According to Santa Ragione, the Steam ban effectively eliminated the possibility of securing an external publisher or partner. The studio ultimately relied on financial support from friends to complete the project. Consequently, the studio states it is indeed now “in a wholly unsustainable financial situation unless the game somehow recoups its development costs.”
Despite the challenges, Santa Ragione intends to support Horses with bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements for at least six months post-launch. However, without meaningful success on alternative storefronts, this may be the studio’s final project.
“I don’t want to make a final decision before seeing how the game does on launch. But if things go the way that I expect them to go, then I think studio’s closure]is inevitable,” Santa Ragione co-founder Pietro Righi Riva told [GamesIndustrybiz. “all the money we’ll earn is gonna go to the author and to the people who have offered money to finish the project. So there will likely be no money left to make a new [game]… Unless a miracle happens and Horses does very well.”