Italian indie studio Santa Ragione is going through closure after its upcoming horror title, Horses, was refused entry onto Steam.
The studio will launch Horses on December 2, 2025, on the Epic Video games Retailer, GOG, Itch.io, and Humble Retailer for $4.99—however can be unable to distribute the title on Steam after platform operator Valve claimed it options “themes, imagery, or descriptions” that it’s going to not publish.
Santa Ragione has put aside funds to help Horses for six months post-launch, however will possible wind down operations afterwards except the title recoups its improvement prices. It feels that situation is unlikely “with out entry to greater than 75 % of the PC gaming market.”
“Steam’s refusal eliminated our major path to succeed in gamers on PC, with no method to attraction and no clear path to compliance, as detailed in our FAQ,” reads a press launch issued by the studio.
“Steam has additionally stopped granting developer keys to indies that don’t meet undisclosed gross sales thresholds, limiting third-party gross sales and retroactively affecting our catalogue. In a de facto monopoly, opaque selections like these can rapidly decide a small studio’s survival.”
Horses is billed as an “enigmatic first individual horror journey that blurs the road between actuality and the darkest corners of your creativeness.” The surreal title permits gamers to mount and trip bare people on a farm the place they need to full unusual and unsettling duties.
“Lawful works shouldn’t be made unreachable”
Santa Ragione has been upfront concerning the grownup themes depicted inside Horses (as evidenced by the intensive content material warning on the Horses web site), however mentioned it desires to provide experiences that problem gamers.
“Horses makes use of grotesque, subversive imagery to confront energy, religion, and violence. We reject subjective obscenity requirements and consider this type of moralizing censorship evokes a darker previous through which imprecise notions of ‘decency’ have been used to silence artists. Video games are an inventive medium and lawful works for adults ought to stay accessible,” defined the studio.
“We respect gamers sufficient to current the sport as supposed and to let adults select what to play; lawful works shouldn’t be made unreachable by a monopolistic storefront’s opaque selections. Steam publicly downplays human curation in favor of algorithmic gross sales optimization, but intervenes with censorship when a sport’s creative imaginative and prescient doesn’t align with what the platform homeowners considers acceptable artwork. Steam’s habits passively shapes which titles builders really feel secure creating, pushing preemptive censorship.”
Notably, Santa Ragione mentioned Horses was denied entry onto Steam earlier than fee processors reportedly started imposing grownup content material restrictions onto online game storefronts. The studio mentioned Valve rejected the title again in 2023—when it was nonetheless in a tough, incomplete state—however failed to offer an in depth clarification as to why it had been blacklisted.
“After evaluation, we won’t be able to ship your sport Horses on Steam. Whereas we try to ship most titles submitted to us, we discovered that this title options themes, imagery, or descriptions that we received’t distribute,” reads the automated evaluation textual content despatched to Santa Ragione by Valve in 2023.
“No matter a developer’s intentions with their product, we is not going to distribute content material that seems, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor. Whereas each product submitted is exclusive, in case your product options this illustration—even in a delicate manner that might be outlined as a ‘gray space’—it will likely be rejected by Steam.”
Santa Ragione mentioned the complete clarification did not cite any particular scenes or parts of the sport that might maybe be tweaked, regardless of the studio providing to alter any content material deemed unfit. It additionally acknowledged that Horses has not been altered on the request of different platform holders. “The model releasing quickly is the sport as we supposed,” confirmed the studio.
Santa Ragione says the ban seems like a “coverage choice” versus a authorized one and emphasised that Horses does not depict any characters that might be mistaken for kids or minors. The studio feels Valve—which it mentioned “informally expressed concern” about a few of the sport’s stay motion intermissions earlier than the automated Steam evaluation had concluded—might have flagged the title due to an unfinished scene in an early construct.
“We expect the ban might have been triggered throughout the preliminary Steam submission by an incomplete scene on day six, through which a person and his younger daughter go to the farm. The daughter desires to trip one of many horses (within the sport the ‘horses’ are people carrying a horse masks) and will get to choose which one,” mentioned the studio.
“What adopted was an interactive dialogue sequence the place the participant is main, by a lead as in the event that they have been a horse, a unadorned grownup girl with a younger lady on her shoulders. The scene is just not sexual in any manner, however it’s doable that the juxtaposition is what triggered the flag. We’ve got since modified the character within the scene to be a twenty-something girl, each to keep away from the juxtaposition and extra importantly as a result of the dialogue delivered in that scene, which offers with the societal construction on the planet of Horses, works significantly better when delivered by an older character.”
In fact, that is still hypothesis on the studio’s half, as a result of Valve has purportedly failed to elucidate exactly which parts of Horses it deemed inappropriate. That, for Santa Ragione, is the core of the difficulty.
“We consider Steam deliberately retains its coverage opaque so it doesn’t have to face by clear guidelines and may alter selections to no matter finest serves the platform at a given second,” added the studio. “That could be acceptable in a very aggressive market, however Steam is a de facto monopoly, and arbitrary, unpredictable selections can jeopardize the survival of builders and studios. We additionally consider they selected this notably loaded and generic accusation as a result of it’s troublesome to contest publicly.”
“We have been handled with out the skilled respect the scenario required”
Santa Ragione invested round $100,000 into the event of Horses, roughly half of which was donated by associates of the studio. It now feels that, with out entry to Steam, recouping that funding can be not possible—leaving it going through the very actual danger of closure.
Discussing how the scenario has impacted the group, Santa Ragione co-founder Pietro Righi Riva advised Recreation Developer the previous two years have been “profoundly disheartening.”
“The group and I’ve been extraordinarily annoyed, realizing not solely that we did our greatest to revert this choice, but in addition that we supplied to adjust to any request or regulation, and nonetheless we have been handled with out the skilled respect the scenario required,” he mentioned.
“It’s scary, humiliating, and patronizing to be advised ‘no, simply because’ by entities that maintain absolute energy over your monetary stability. I believe I personally really feel what we described within the press launch once we say this type of strategy pushes creators towards self censorship. Not having clear boundaries about what I’m allowed to create and publish is miserable, and the alternative of an setting that permits and encourages creativity.”
Riva added that he feels “tricked and betrayed” by Valve, which he mentioned has acquired a considerable portion of Santa Ragione’s earnings over the 14 years it has been conducting enterprise on Steam.
“I mistakenly thought that had purchased us a sure degree {of professional} courtesy that may permit us to unravel any type of problem. That perception gave me a false sense of safety, a way that the publishing course of was a minimum of considerably predictable. It’s arduous to not see malice when guidelines are stored purposely obscure whereas on the identical time there may be insistence that their curation is computerized and ‘democratic’ as a result of people usually are not allowed within the course of,” he continued.
“I [also] really feel very unhealthy for the writer, Andrea Lucco Borlera, as a result of he’s clearly the one with the deepest emotional connection to the work. I used to be very nervous about him after I first needed to break the information that the sport wouldn’t launch on Steam. Think about being advised that the work you may have spent years of your life on is just not going to be printed, with no motive, and there may be nothing you are able to do.”
Riva mentioned your entire group has been underneath “immense stress” after repeatedly making an attempt and failing to attraction the ban. He’s additionally nervous that overtly criticising Valve may place the event group within the firing line.
“I believe it is extremely vital that we’ve got this dialog, however I do know this opens up the group to extra scrutiny and criticism, each usually for overtly criticising Valve, and particularly as a result of Steam’s allegations are so broad and extreme. It’s one thing that has actually stored me up at evening on many events,” he continued.
“In the long run I believe [the team is] relieved that we managed to finish and launch the sport. Had we canceled it once we obtained banned, it could have been a lot worse. In fact everybody is gloomy that that is very possible going to be our final sport collectively as Santa Ragione, however it’s a minimum of a comfort that it may be such an odd and hopefully memorable title.”
Recreation Developer has reached out to Valve for remark.
